Catching Fire
by SpontaneousCombustion
Summary: The last chapter has finally arrived! In the aftermath of the dance, can we finally have some good news? Please? WarrenOC
1. The First Day

SpontaneousCombustion: Okay, so, this may just be a story I write on for a few weeks and give up on, but I'm on a Sky High kick and can't seem to get off

SpontaneousCombustion: Okay, so, this may just be a story I write on for a few weeks and give up on, but I'm on a Sky High kick and can't seem to get off. So, story time. And yes, I know that there are already a million WarrenOC fics, but Warren's awesome. Besides, this may not last long.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High or any of its characters, just the ones I make up.

Chapter 1

The First Day

"I see that you've been going to a regular school for the past year." Principal Powers said, looking over the papers in her hand at the girl sitting on the other side of her desk.

"Yes ma'am." The girl said. Dirty blonde hair streaked with highlights fell down to her shoulders. Almond-shaped violet eyes stared down at her hands, which were clasped together in her lap. Dark, tattered blue jeans emerged from underneath a long black trench coat, the top half of which was buttoned up, hiding whatever shirt she was wearing.

Principal Powers smiled at her. "Well, it's good to have you here now. I'll take you down to the gym for power placement so we can get your schedule in order."

Alexa blinked. "Power what?"

The retired super hero patted her shoulder reassuringly. "It's a simple test of your powers to see whether you're to be placed in the hero or hero support class."

"Oh." She muttered, shoving her chair back and following her out.

"Coach Boomer?" Principal Powers called as they entered the gym. Sonicboom looked up from his clipboard. "This is Alexa Hale. She needs to go through power placement."

"Step up and show us what you've got, meat." Alexa paused, looking at the coach. He frowned. "I said STTEEEEEP UUUUPP!" He yelled, his voice blowing Alexa and Principal Powers back.

Said principal glared at him. "Boomer..." She growled warningly. His expression was something akin to pouting as he pointed to the spot on the raised, circular stage next to him. Alexa walked up to the circular platform, wiggling a finger in her ear to fix her hearing. Stopping, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Well?" Boomer asked. Principal Powers couldn't help laughing as Boomer jumped when blue flames engulfed Alexa's arms. She looked over at Boomer, her eyes now totally consumed by black, and cocked an eyebrow as if to retort his question. He clicked his pen open and looked down at his clipboard. "Hero."

The flames died down, and her eyes became violet again, the blackness spiraling into her pupils. She hopped off the stage and walked back over to Principal Powers, who was still smirking. "So what now?"

"Now we're going to head back to my office and get your schedule straightened out, then you can get to class."

"Alright." She shrugged, following the woman out.

235432153

Will Stronghold was BORED. Even with Layla moved up to 'hero' status, and in his Mad Science class, high school still sucked. And he couldn't even ask Warren to blow up the science lab or something, as- for some strange reason- the pyrokinetic had decided once was more than enough, and he didn't want to get expelled. Speaking of Warren, he seemed to be amusing himself by burning his notes while Mr. Medulla lectured them on... well, something about death rays. Again. Already, actually, as it was the first day of school and all the OTHER teachers were doing was giving out curriculums and supply lists.

Blessed relief came when the door opened and Principal Powers walked in. Trailing behind her was a blonde girl about their age. Violet eyes flickered around the room, and her choice of wardrobe was... well, interesting. Not many people wore trench coats, especially ones that went almost to the floor. "Professor Medulla, this is Alexa Hale. She's new."

"Ah, another one of you hormone secreting adolescents. The joy I feel." Medulla said, voice oozing sarcasm. "Well, Ms. Hale, I suppose you'll be partners with Mr. Peace." The mad genius gestured to the only free seat in the room. Principal Powers patted the girl on the shoulder and walked out. Alexa made her way over to the empty stool, an eyebrow rising as she saw the crispy edges of Warren's notes, but she smartly chose not to say anything. Medulla continued his lecture like nothing had happened.

Twenty-two minutes later, the bell rang, and the students sighed in relief. "There will be a test next Tuesday." Medulla called as they walked out of the room. The sighs turned into groans.

"Layla, you coming?" Will asked, closing his locker.

His girlfriend looked over at him, and Will was suddenly a lot more wary than he had been. Layla had that look on her face that she got whenever she wanted to do something- last time, it was save a squirrel that was being attacked by a hawk. Layla immediately noticed the look on his face. "Don't give me that look. I'll just be a sec." And with that, she grabbed her notes and walked over to Alexa, who had just unlocked her locker and was pulling it open. Alexa looked up from pulling a brown paper sack out of her locker. "Alexa, right? I'm Layla Green. I thought you might wanna borrow these." She offered her almost obsessively neat notes.

Alexa blinked, but then smiled at her weakly. "Thanks. I have a feeling I'll need them- I didn't understand a word out of Medulla's mouth."

"That happens to a lot of people." Will chuckled, walking up. He offered his hand. "Will Stronghold."

Alexa took it, her mouth automatically responding, "The Commander and Jetstream's son," before she could stop it. She winced. "Sorry."

"Nah. I get that a lot."

She adjusted the bag strapped across her chest. "I know how you feel. My dad's The Phoenix."

"I've heard of him."

"So have a lot of other people." She said.

Layla, looking at the nearly empty halls, decided it was time to intervene. "Do you wanna sit with us at lunch? You'll know three people."

"Three?"

"Warren- the guy you were sitting with- is a friend of ours too." Will explained.

Alexa cocked an eyebrow. "Mr. Moody and Leather-Clad?"

"Yeah."

She shrugged. "Sure, I guess. Better than sitting alone and feeling awkward."

"Yep, now you can feel awkward around people." Alexa laughed.

Layla shook her head. "Apparently I need a more obvious hint: let's go to lunch!"

23472398472

"Will! Layla! Over here!" I looked over to see a boy waving to the two in front of me. His hair was bleached blonde, and he seemed to like white, highlighter yellow, and neon green. A lot. Layla nodded over and I followed her awkwardly. Their friends seemed to be pretty diverse- other than highlighter boy, there was a girl in mostly black and purple with streaks of the violet color in her black hair, and a boy in glasses, and an orange sweater vest.

I hadn't realized they still made those.

And, like Will had said, there was the boy I had sat next to in class- Warren, I think. There was a single red streak in his dark hair, and even darker eyes were watching our progress toward the grey-plastic table with something between apathy and mild curiosity. He had a black leather jacket draped over his shoulders, a black shirt underneath that, and dark jeans that were almost, but not quite (you guessed it!) black. "Guys, this is Alexa. She's new." Layla introduced me. "Alexa, Magenta, Zach, Ethan, and you met Warren in class."

"Hi." I greeted lamely, waving even more pathetically. The first three waved back, while Warren grunted. As I had at least three boy cousins going into, in, or coming out of the 'moody teenager' phase, I spoke it quite well, and interpreted that particular grunt as 'hi.'

"So, you're a hero?" Ethan asked. I nodded.

"I'm a pyrokinetic."

Magenta rolled her eyes. "Great another one."

Another one? I immediately looked over at Warren, the obvious candidate. It wasn't Will, obviously, and Layla didn't seem like much of a pyro (far too green), and I doubted it was Zach or Ethan. And the fact that his notes had been on fire in Mad Science was a pretty good clue too. "Well, it isn't exactly normal..." I tried, and failed, to explain. At the questioning looks, I held up my hand and concentrated. Blue flames engulfed from my wrist up, flickering around my digits. More staring. Great. I killed the light show and put my hand back down.

"How'd you get it to do that?" Zach asked.

I shrugged. "Just does. Always been like that." And with that final note, I took a bite of my sandwich. And there weren't any more questions. Instead, we talked about regular stuff- how summer went by so fast, how Medulla was still just as insane as ever and giving homework on the first day, and how Boomer seemed to have broken another set of 'shatterproof' windows in the gym.

Finally, the day ended (without any more homework, but with plenty of course descriptions and supply lists). I hopped off the bus, waved bye to Layla and Will, and walked up the path to my house.

Considering I was living with my single, super-hero dad, we had a pretty nice place. Two stories, big enough for a sixteen year old and thirteen year old girl and their dad, not to mention a cat and two birds, and enough bathrooms for everyone to have their own in the morning. Never enough hot water though. Guess that's where being able to make your own heat comes in handy.

Sighing, I reached up on top of the door frame and grabbed the key, unlocking the door. "I'm home!"

"Goody." Called the couch. Well, it wasn't actually the couch. It was the thirteen year old girl I mentioned earlier- my younger sister, Carson. She was sprawled over the leather three seat in our living room, her red T-shirt and bleached jeans wrinkled and messy- she probably got into another fight. Her blonde hair was cropped messily above her skull, her bangs longer than the rest of her hair and flopping into her face and covering her cerulean blue eyes. "How was super school?"

"Not much different than regular." I said, offering the curriculums and supply lists. She took them and scanned through the first page disinterestedly. "Shoes off the couch." I ordered, knocking her sneakered feet off and taking their place. "What're you watching?"

"The news. They're covering dad's court case. He won."

"Great." I felt something rub my leg and looked down to see our fuzzy grey tomcat- Blue- rubbing up on my legs. I reached down and scooped him up. "Hey you." He purred and head butted my hand. I sighed and scratched his ears, then glanced back over at Carson. "You'd better get changed before dad gets home." I looked at the cockatiel and canary sitting on the armchair across the room. "And put Lancelot and Becca Lynn back in their cages."

"They needed some air. You shoulda heard Becca whining when I got home." Becca Lynn, our cockatiel, was the smartest bird I'd ever seen. She could curse in three different languages, and spoke full sentences in English. She even knew our names. And yes, our canary's name is Lancelot. I pushed Blue off my lap and stood, tired of watching the paparazzi bonanza on the TV. "You thirsty?"

"Coke." Carson automatically responded.

I walked into our kitchen and looked in the fridge. The soda rack was empty. Shaking my head, I went into the pantry and grabbed a couple warm ones and walked back out. Blue had abandoned me for the crook of Carson's arm. Dumb cat. I held out the Cokes to her. "They're warm." Splaying her first two fingers into a 'V,' my sister touched the cans and they immediately cooled. I handed her one and popped mine open, glugging it down, then shivering. "Ah... brain freeze! You slushied them again!"

"Press your thumb into the roof of your mouth." She said, sipping her slushy in a can slowly. I did, and the pain faded.

"I hate when you do that." I sighed. We both looked up as the door opened and our father walked in.

Elliot Hale, standing at six foot three, was a very intimidating lawyer. He had a square jaw, and those usual, rugged good "hero" looks. Said looks helped his intimidation tactics greatly- in and out of court. The Phoenix was what some might consider a vigilante. But hey, he kept the city safe, right? And if Batman could do it...

But honestly, he wasn't that scary. You can't find a man who leapt on a chair at the first sight of a mouse scary. He read us bedtime stories when we were little. Came to our school plays, sport events, even our girl scout meetings. Well, the seven we went to before me and Carson quit, anyway. The cold, hard as stone, crystal blue eyes were always gentle and playful around us (unless we were in trouble), and the intimidation tactics gave way to gentle scoldings and loud laughter, and a little yelling when Blue found his way into the morning paper with his claws.

Not even stopping to say hello, he headed straight upstairs, loosening his tie as he did. When he came back down two minutes later, his boring grey suit had been replaced with jeans and a black tank top. He sighed. "That's better. I was getting cramped in that thing." And for emphasis, he flared his blood red wings.

A phoenix is a fire BIRD, remember?

"You won." Carson said, looking up at him.

He smiled, but it abruptly changed to a frown when he saw her clothes. "Carson..."

"Football." She replied. He shook his head and turned to me and my trench coat.

"Lexi," He started, using his pet name for me (you know, the one only parents can get away with without being slaughtered), "Did you really wear that thing to school?"

"Yes." I stood up. "Speaking of which, help me get this stupid harness off." I threw off my coat, revealing the light blue tank top I'd been wearing that day, as well as the metal harness I'd been wearing beneath it.

The metal harness that was pinning my ash grey wings down to my back. "Why do you bother wearing that?" Carson asked. "I mean, it's a school for superheroes."

"Yeah, but most superheroes don't have two powers."

Carson rolled her eyes. "I hardly call those a 'power'. I mean, they're hereditary. The fire is a power. My ice is a power. The wings are daddy's fault. Or grandpa's. Or great-grandma's. But not a power."

"Whatever brat- oh that feels good." I sighed as my wings stretched free of their prison. "Carson, give dad my school stuff, I'm going upstairs."

"Sure. Oh, hey, there was mail for you! It's on your bed." I shook my head and continued up the stairs. Throwing open the door to my room, I saw said letter on resting on my single bed's black comforter that was dotted with silver Japanese kanji and dragons. My pillowcases were white with more grey kanji on them, as were my sheets. That's where my Asian influence ended (save the Chinese paper lantern hanging above my desk in the corner), and a more modern style took over. The white plush carpet, rather large TV set, dresser, desk, PS2, and X-Box finished off the furniture in the room. The walls were ash grey, a few shades lighter than my wings, and the one behind my bed and desk was black. A large, rising full moon was painted on it, with a winged figure as a silhouette against it. Gray and green mountains rose from along the floor, and there was a castle sitting on one of them.

My mother may have went a little overboard.

I frowned at that thought, looking at the letter on my bed, my eyes automatically going up to the return address.

_Sky Penitentiary for Super Villains_.

With a sigh, I tore open the envelope, tossing it half-heartedly at my trashcan and missing, before flopping down on my bed and unfolding the letter.

'_Hey sweetie._

_If I'm right and the mail comes on time (yeah right), you should get this on your first day of sophomore year at Sky High. I'm so proud of you, Alexa. I hope your day went well and that you made some friends. I miss you and Carson and your dad so much. If he doesn't mind, see if you can set up another visit soon, okay? I send all three of you lots of love. Hope I see you soon._

_Hugs and kisses, sweetie. I love you._

_Mom'_

Tossing my legs over the edge of my bed, I walked over to my desk and ripped a piece of paper out of the binder sitting on top of it, then dug a pencil out of the drawer.

'_Mother of the year...'_

SC: Well, that hopefully didn't go over too badly… anyway, Read and Review please!

Ja ne

SpontaneousCombustion


	2. Save the Citizen

SpontaneousCombustion: Wow. Okay, so this was more popular than I expected. So, I guess I'm continuing. Yea!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High or any of the heroes I make references to in this story (like the Batman one last chapter).

Chapter 2

Save the Citizen

Carson walked into the kitchen at seven a.m. to see her sister already up, dressed, and eating breakfast. She looked over at the clock on the stove and then back at her sister. "What time did you get up?" She asked incredulously.

Alexa swallowed the jelly covered toast in her mouth. "'Bout forty-five minutes. There's a bus to school, so I don't have to fiddle with the harness once I get there." Carson noticed that the rather painful looking restraint already strapped across her sister's back and chest. All the metal bands were covered with some type of cloth or leather as not to bruise the wearer. There were two long straps over her shoulders, and screwed on to those were three bars across Alexa's back, pinning down her wings, and another two on her front, just below her collarbone and just above the bottom of her ribs.

"Why can't you just wear that thing under your shirt instead of the coat?"

She looked over at her and twitched the tips of her wings, which were hanging over the edge of the chair. "Because a shirt wouldn't cover these things. The jacket does."

"Why don't you just not wear the harness?"

Alexa sighed, tossing her crusts in trash can and grabbing her coat off of another chair which she'd flung it across. "Carson, it's too early to start this." They both looked out the window as a large yellow bus pulled up. "Gotta go." She slung her bag over one shoulder and ran out the door, ruffling Carson's hair as she passed. She chuckled as she heard her sister use language she never would've dared to in front of their father as the door swung shut.

She managed a smile at the bus driver before her attention was diverted by her name being called. She looked back to see Layla waving at her. She took the seat across the aisle from her, as the one next to her was occupied by Will. "Hey." She reached into her backpack and pulled out a few sheets of paper, handing them across the aisle. "Thanks for the notes."

Layla smiled. "No problem. Medulla's insane."

"Mad." Will corrected. Layla rolled her eyes and shoved him lightly.

Alexa heard a chuckle behind her, and turned to see Magenta. "Glad we don't have him." 

She frowned. "Why not?"

"Me, Magenta, and Zach are sidekicks." Ethan explained, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

One of Alexa's eyebrows raised. "So?"

All three blinked. "Alexa, heroes and sidekicks have different classes. While you guys are taking stuff like Mad Science, we're taking First Aid for Your Hero." Magenta said.

"Seriously?"

"Will and Layla used to be sidekicks too." The blonde turned to the two heroes, her expression disbelieving. They both nodded. 

She put a hand over her eyes. "Okay, not to be rude, but... how?"

"Stronghold didn't have any powers, but then got 'em, and Layla destroyed a classroom with her 'evil vines of death.'" Alexa looked up to see Warren standing there. He gestured to the seat next to her. "Do you mind?" Alexa grabbed her bag and slid over, letting him sit down. He looked over at Will. "Ready for gym?"

Will groaned in response, hitting the back of his head against his seat.

Alexa sighed. "Okay, I'm going to regret this, but why is the kid with super strength groaning about _gym_?"

"Three words." Magenta said, leaning over the seat. "Save. The. Citizen."

"What's that, a game?"

Warren chuckled. "Something like that."

"Warren... stop it." Will groaned.

Zach chuckled. "Man, Boomer's gonna kill you two."

"Shut it, Glowstick."

Layla laughed. "Guys, we're approaching takeoff."

"Layla, why are you making me ask questions I don't wanna ask?" Alexa said, leaning forward to look over at the girl.

A warm hand grabbed her shoulder and pushed her back in the seat. "Just sit back and hold on." Warren ordered, smirking.

"Hold on to-" An over-the-shoulder, rollercoaster type bar rose from the seat and went over the super powered students shoulders. "-What? Oh." Her hands went up and she curled her fingers around the bars. "Me and my big mouth."

"You know, you took that surprisingly well." Will said, clapping a hand on Alexa's shoulder.

"If I remember correctly, all of us were screaming our heads off in fear." Layla reminded him. "Not laughing two seconds after we left the street."

Alexa grinned. "I am a rollercoaster FREAK. My sister hates me." As soon as Will had passed by her, she reached up and rubbed her shoulder. "Ow." She said under her breath.

"Smart girl." Magenta smirked. 

Layla patted her other shoulder. "You get used to it. What do you have first period?"

Alexa dug a folded piece of paper out of her pocket. "Uh, nothing you guys'd have."

Zach peered over her shoulder. "'Power control for pyrokinetics?'" 

She glared at him and shoved the schedule back in her pocket. "It's a required course, okay? I don't have a choice. Besides, my dad signed me up." She added quietly. A bell rang from the large white building behind them. 

"Warning bell. We'd better get going." Ethan said, hurrying toward the building.

Alexa closed her eyes, trying not to laugh. "Is anyone gonna hit me if I say Ethan's a nerd?"

"Nope. Unfortunately we do need to get to class." They all quickly ascended the steps (like a quarter of the student body was) and went through the doors. As everyone parted ways, Alexa grabbed her schedule and quickly glanced at the room number, then groaned. Second floor. Not wanting to be late on her second day (not without Principal Powers there as her excuse), she bolted up the nearest staircase. Her rushing was unnecessary though, as she made it to the classroom two minutes before the bell was due to ring. The woman sitting at the desk looked up, then blinked. "Alexa?"

She smiled sheepishly. "Uh, hey, Ms. Summers." Rachel Summers- also known as the super heroine Firefly- was hardly ten years older than her sophomore students. Her fiery red hair fell in waves to her waist, and her eyes were greener than a cat's. Glasses were perched on the end of her nose, and freckles dotted her cheeks but were barely noticeable. 

The teacher smiled back at her. "Welcome to Sky High. Take any seat." Alexa nodded and grabbed a seat near the window in the front corner. The bell's shrill ringing came over the loudspeaker in the center of the ceiling, and the door opened again.

Ms. Summers turned toward the door with a sigh. "You're la- I shoulda known. I hope you aren't going to make this a habit this year too, Mr. Peace."

A low chuckle. "Been planning to."

Alexa squeezed her eyes shut. _'You have got to be kidding me...'_ She mentally groaned, looking toward the door. Oh yes. It was official- fate really hated her. She must have done something horrible in a past life or something. "I don't know why I decided to let you be my aide this year... well, just go sit down." 

Alexa suddenly became very interested in her desktop as Warren sat down behind the podium that sat in the corner in front of her. _'Why me, god? Why me?'_

"Alright class. I know it's only the second day, but unfortunately I do have a curriculum to fill, so it's time to get to work. Warren, get off your lazy butt and pass these out." Alexa didn't look up as she heard Warren scooted the stool back and walked past her. "Thankfully, your assignment requires almost no brainpower and no super powers." There were a couple groans from the back. "You can burn things later, kids. Just fill out the form and hand it in when the bell rings."

And fifty minutes later, it did. Alexa practically jumped out of her seat in relief, stuck the paper in the black plastic tray marked '1', and was out the door. Thankfully, her homeroom was on the first floor, and could serve as an excuse if there were any suspicions. She looked down at her schedule as she started down the stairs, then nearly tripped as someone tapped her shoulder. Grabbing the railing to balance herself, she turned around to see Warren standing there. He held up a familiar black bag. "You forgot this."

Alexa smacked herself in the forehead, blushing. "Crap. This has not been a good day."

"Mind if I ask why?"

"Not if you don't mind walking and talking." He shrugged.

Alexa started walking, Warren more than easily keeping pace. "Well, let's see. My cat was obviously possessed by a demon during the night, as he tore up an entire notebook- the one that I had Medulla's notes in, so I had to re-copy Layla's at six a.m., I got into an argument with my sister that I really didn't want to bring up that early in the morning, the people I was sitting with on the bus wouldn't stop teasing me," Here, Warren chuckled, "And I just found out that my first period teacher is my old babysitter."

"Ms. Summers? Seriously?" Alexa nodded. Warren just shook his head, then peeked over at her schedule. "I think this is your stop." 

Alexa looked up at the room number. "Oh, yeah. See you in Mad Science?"

"Try next period. Everyone has gym together."

She rolled her eyes. "How long am I going to have to put up with you today?"

"Not much or I'll be late." He called, turning and walking off. Alexa adjusted her bag on her shoulder and walked into the classroom.

"Okay, homeroom sucks no matter what school you're at." Alexa muttered, pulling the loose blue gym tank-top over her wings- brace and all. "And so do gym uniforms. At least these are loose." She sighed, pulling her long pants up over the bottom of her wings and her shirt. Turning around, she looked in the mirror over her shoulder. It looked a little odd, but at least not like she had wings underneath her clothes. Unlocking the bathroom stall, she slipped out of the stall and back into the main part of the locker room, shoving her regular stuff in her locker. 

"Little shy, are we?" Magenta asked with a chuckle. Alexa gave a weak smile and headed out into the gym. It looked much different than it had the morning before- the circular stage that Boomer had had was gone, replaced by a pair of spike covered "mulchers"- one of the most basic villain tools, used to threaten hostages, and usually thwarted. There were rows of bleachers along the walls, protected by a plexi-glass wall. A giant scoreboard hung from the ceiling, a timer in the middle, and the labels above the point windows reading 'Heroes' and 'Villians'. There were two empty spaces below each of the windows. Alexa climbed up the steps and sat down in the row behind Will, Zach, and Ethan. Warren was sitting a few seats away from her.

"So how does this work?"

"It's easier just to show you- here comes Boomer." Will said.

Alexa had to admit, Will was right. He and Warren were picked first by Boomer to be heroes.

"New record man." Zach said, high-fiving Will as he climbed back into the stands.

"Yeah, you shaved off three seconds." Ethan said.

Will grinned at his friends, then turned to Alexa. "Well?"

"I think I'd get my ass kicked if that had been my. My citizen would've been fertilizer." She laughed.

"Stronghold!"

Will groaned. "Not again." Warren moved to stand as well, but stopped at the next word out of Boomer's mouth.

"Hale!" Alexa jerked up. 

"You'll be fine." Will assured her as they put on the protective gear. "I'll tell you how their powers work."

She nodded, swallowing nervously. Will watched as the names popped up on the board, and his jaw dropped. "You have got to be kidding me."

The names under 'Villians' read 'Peace' and 'Frost.'

"Okay, so Warren and..."

"Celia Frost. She's an ice user."

Alexa took a deep breath. "Okay, not too bad."

"She's also Warren's ex."

"What?" 

Will shook his had as Warren and a blonde girl walked down into the arena. "I'll tell you later. I'm invulnerable to Warren's flames, but I'll need you to keep Celia off me, okay?"

"Right. Keep Ice Girl away." Will chuckled, as that was what most of the student body called Celia, but then sobered up as Boomer blew the starting whistle.

And a fireball flew right at the two 'heroes' and slammed Will in the chest, sending him flying. Alexa barely flamed up in time to blast the ice coming at her, and then had to duck to dodge Warren. "Will, I could use some help!" She yelled, scrambling away as a blast of ice froze the floor of her previous position. Warren had charged up another fireball, but it was knocked off course as Will tackled him. The pyro blasted him off. 

"This seems familiar." He said with a smirk as flames danced over his arms.

"Really?" Will asked, grinning. "Can't imagine why."

"Will! Stop chatting!" Alexa warned as she melted another freezing blast sent his way. Warren turned and sent a fireball into her side, sending her back into the wall. She groaned as she fell to the floor, pushing herself up and shaking her head. She stopped as a shadow fell over her, and she looked up to see Warren. "This won't be good."

"You said it."

She smirked. "Actually, I was talking about you." Blue flames raced down her arm to the floor, exploding under Warren's feet and sending him flying. Conveniently, right into Celia, who had frozen half of Will's legs. Another blast of flame righted that. "Citizen!" Alexa yelled, pointing at the timer. They had twenty seconds left. Will nodded and ran toward the machine. A wall of blue fire shot up between him and Warren and Celia, and he leapt into the air.

Several things happened at that moment. 

Celia put out part of the fire wall with a quick ice blast, and Warren shot a fireball through. The fireball hit Will in the back as he leapt up, propelling him into the citizen and ripping its rope, but sending him spiraling out of control toward the ground- specifically, the part already occupied by Alexa, who had just pulled herself to her feet. This caused her to slam painfully into the wall again, sandwiched between the wooden paneling and Will. She felt the protective gear slam into her chest, and more specifically, the bottom bar of her brace. She collapsed to the floor next to Will as pain surged through her abdomen, becoming blinding as she tried to breath in.

"Heroes win!" Boomer yelled as the assembled students cheered.

Will grinned as he pushed the citizen doll to the floor. "Alright! Hear that Alexa? We won!" He looked over at the girl, who had her back to him. "Alexa?" He turned her slightly and could suddenly hear the pained gasps she was trying to take in. "Coach Boomer!"

"What is it Stronghold?"

"Alexa can't breathe." Faintly, Alexa could hear Boomer leap off his stool and run over. Will had already started pulling the protective gear off of her, and she felt the pressure on her chest lessen as he removed the front plate. 

"Hale, can you hear me?" Alexa managed a wheezy 'yes'. He put his hand on the bottom of her ribs- and the brace- and she let out a cry. Boomer grimaced. "Stronghold, take her down to the nurse." Will nodded and looped one of Alexa's arms around his shoulders and pulled her to her feet, leading her out of the gym. He stopped as Warren put a hand on his shoulder when he passed him. "Stronghold, is she...?"

"Nurse's office." Will said softly before walking out of the gym.

They were halfway down the hall when Alexa tugged on his sleeve. He looked over at her. "I-" She winced. "I can't go to the nurse." She managed to croak out.

"Wha- Alexa, you can hardly breathe!"

She shook her head. "Can't. Take me to Ms. Summers's room."

"But-" Alexa looked up at him pleadingly. Will grimaced. Damn it, why did he always have to be the good guy? "Alright, what room?"

"Two fifteen." Will grimaced. That was up on the second floor. 

"Hold on, okay?" He asked, an idea striking him. She nodded, letting out a silent yelp as he scooped her up and flew up the nearest staircase, landing in front of the door. Setting Alexa back on her feet, he twisted the doorknob, relieved to find it unlocked. There was a young woman sitting at the desk, and she looked up as the door opened.

"Can I help-" Her eyes widened. "Alexa?!" She knocked her chair over in her rush. "What happened, what's wrong?"

"Brace." Was all she said as she looped her arm around the teacher's shoulders and let go of Will. She sat Alexa down in a nearby desk, and put a hand on her chest. Alexa winced and bit her lip.

"Alright, I see what's wrong. Do you still have your tank top on under this?" Alexa nodded, and Ms. Summers slid the gym shirt off. Will's eyes widened as he took in the sight of the brace strapped to Alexa's chest and the feathery wings pinned to her back. "Yeah, that's it. You got this bottom bar bent. It must be pressing into your diaphragm. Let me get this off you." She reached around to her side and unlocked the clips there, and the brace fell off, letting Alexa's wings flare out behind her. She took in a gulping breath.

"That's better." She sighed, rubbing the sore spot where the metal had been digging in.

"Y-you..." Alexa looked up at the staring Stronghold. "You have wings!"

Alexa nodded.

"Why didn't you tell us? And what's with that thing?" He pointed to the brace.

"Will, I don't want anyone to know. You have to promise not to tell anyone- not even Layla."

"But... why? I mean, it's a power, isn't it?"

"It isn't a power- it's genetic. Just like my dad's wings, and my grandpa's, and my great-grandma's. I don't want to be different because of them."

Ms. Summers chuckled as she wrapped a hand around the bent part of the brace. It glowed red under her palm. "Alexa, you're a pyro with blue fire. You aren't exactly going to fit in."

"Yeah, but at least without the wings it'll be a little easier." She replied before turning back to Will. "Will, please. I need your word on this."

Will nodded slowly. "Okay, Alexa. I won't tell anyone. Promise."

Alexa smiled, relieved. "You'd better go. I'll head back soon." Will nodded and left. Alexa looked back at Ms. Summers. "Any chance I can head back to gym soon?"

The teacher removed her hand to show that the still-red metal had been molded back into place. "Don't worry- you'll be outta here by your fourth period."

Alexa nodded. "Alright. Hey, speaking of classes..."

"This is a required course for sophomores, Alexa. There aren't many tenth grade pyrokinetics in Sky High. You'll notice that your class only has eight? My next one is sixth period, and that one only has seven."

"Oh."

She walked back over to her desk and righted her chair. "So, mind telling me what happened to that?" 

I blushed. "Save the Citizen accident. Will- the guy who brought me here?- kinda got blasted into me. He's invulnerable, and I got smashed into the wall."

"I see. Who blasted him? I thought I saw burn marks on that gear of his."

"Warren Peace. He didn't mean to. Well, he meant to blast Will, but not into me." 

"That would explain it. But Warren? Normally you couldn't force Boomer to part those two in Save the Citizen."

"Yeah, well, apparently, Boomer and fate seem to be talking, and neither of them like me today."

Ms. Summers raised an eyebrow. "Explain?"

"I'd rather not." I avoided pathetically.

She just shook her head. "Whatever. But no, Wararen's actually sweet guy."

"And moody and leather-clad."

"There's that too, I guess." She relented. "He's really opened up since became friends with Will. And he was one of my best students last year." She smiled slyly. "And he's kinda cute."

I choked on air. "You did not seriously just say that. Don't you have a concept of the word jailbait?"

"I said he was cute, I didn't say I was going to seduce him or something. Beside that, I've already got a very loving and serious boyfriend." She raised an eyebrow. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"I saw you this morning. Your face was so red I thought you'd busted an artery."

I blushed again. "He was teasing me on the bus. I kinda freaked out when we drove off the bridge."

"Woah, slow down cowgirl. Warren was teasing you?"

"Well, more like laughing at me." I corrected.

Ms. Summers looked impressed. "Still, that's a change, even for him. Will must be working overtime." She walked over to the desk my brace was resting on. "Alright, this thing's cool now. You should have just enough time to get back to gym and change before your fourth period." I nodded, grabbing the harness and pulling it on, locking it over my torso. I yanked the blue gym tank top on and bolted out of the room.

"Alexa!" Layla suddenly had me in a death grip hug. 

"Ah, Layla, Layla!" I yelled, shoving her off me.

"Sorry." She apologized, looking sheepish. "But are you okay?"

I nodded, pulling open my locker and grabbing my clothes. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Magenta smirked at me. "Good, that should let Warren concentrate. He's been getting his ass handed to him. Boomer benched him and Will."

Layla laughed lightly. "I don't think Will was helping much either."

I grinned, heading toward the bathroom. "Glad to know that I'm such a distraction." I called, opening a free stall and slipping inside.

Somehow, I wasn't surprised when Will bombarded me as soon as I walked out of the locker room. I cut him off with a hand. "I'm fine, okay?" He sighed, getting the hint and nodding. "Heard you and Warren got benched." I said, attempting to start a conversation.

He nodded. "Oh yeah. It was a little hard to concentrate."

"Sorry."

He laughed. "Nah. It was nice to get a break from being Boomer's personal pets."

"No, pets get treated better than Boomer treats us." Both of us jumped and turned to see Warren standing next to us. "You alright?" He asked, looking over at me.

I nodded. "Just got the wind knocked out of me, that's all." For a second, it didn't look like he believed me, but he just nodded slightly and turned to walk off.

"How do you do that?" Will asked, incredulous.

"Do what?" 

"Lie that easily."

I looked away from him. "Practice." I muttered, walking out.

SC: Wow, that was a long chapter. There wasn't much plot in it, but it'll start getting there within a few chapters. Read and review please!

Ja ne

SC


	3. An Awkward Visit

SpontaneousCombustion: Wow. Okay, so this was more popular than I expected. So, I guess I'm continuing. Yea!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High or any of the heroes and/or brand items I make references to in this story.

Chapter 3

An Awkward Visit

"Okay, after a week, I feel obligated to ask: do we do _anything_ other than take notes in Mad Science?" Alexa asked, looking out the window as the bus took off from Sky High's lawn.

Will paused to think. "Well, we build rays."

"Oh, we got to test antidotes on each other last year." Warren chuckled. "That was fun."

Will 'hmphed'. "For YOU maybe. I'm the one who had to try most of them."

Layla giggled. "Well, we did make Warren try that one… remember, the one that turned him pink?"

The pyro groaned. "Thank you so much, Layla, for reminding me of that experience. Why am I friends with you people again?"

"Because you aren't actually as moody and emo as you look?" Will offered. Warren glared at him cynically. Will held up his hands in defense. "Okay, okay. Don't roast me. Hey, I was gonna see if my parents would let you guys come over to study for Medulla's test."

Warren shook his head. "I've got double shift tonight."

"On a Friday?" Warren nodded. "That sucks."

"Tell me about it."

Alexa shook her head. "I can't come tonight either. I kinda have plans already."

"I have tomorrow off." Warren offered.

"I can check with my dad." Alexa added.

Will shrugged. "That should work." They all looked up as the bus pulled to a halt.

"My stop." Alexa sighed. Warren stood to let her pass and she slipped by, waving as the bus pulled off. She laughed as the trees actually began to wave back, shaking her head as she walked up the path.

"Look out!" Carson yelled as she opened the door. "Mad bird, coming through!"

Alexa's hand shot up, and a birdcage made of blue flame surrounded the yellow missile headed toward the open doorway. Lancelot let out the closest a bird could get to shriek as it braked, fluttering in the cage.

"Bad birdy." Becca Lynn called with a whistle from the TV stand. The canary let out what could've been an indignant chirp before settling itself on the fiery blue perch in the cage.

"Carson…" Alexa sighed. "Becca Lynn is one thing, but taking out Lancelot is just asking for trouble. Got it?"

The younger girl crossed her arms and scowled. "I wasn't trying to let that little demon bird out. I was TRYING to get Becca out and he opened his lock while I was distracted."

Alexa looked into the cage at the bird swinging on its… swing. "This little baby?"

"EVIL." Carson reiterated. Alexa shook her head and, after kicking the door shut, "opened" the door and took out the canary inside. He squirmed a little in her hand but was relatively calm. The fire-constructed cage disappeared.

"I'll go put the 'devil bird' back in his cage, but then I'm leaving. Dad home yet?"

"Yeah. He's taking a nap, but I might have woken him up chasing after Lancelot." She admitted sheepishly. Alexa just shook her head and headed upstairs into her room. She sighed; Carson had moved Lancelot's cage into her room again. She pulled open the unlocked door and thrust her hand inside, releasing the canary as she did. He pecked at her hand before going over to his hanging mirror. "Vain little monster." She teased, locking the door shut. Then, as an afterthought, she made an 'X' over the lock with her finger. Two bands of blue flame wrapped around the lock. "Maybe now you'll stay put." Alexa said, looking at the bird inside. It cocked its head to the side and chirped at her before going back to pecking its mirror.

Alexa shook her head and walked over to her desk, pulling the top drawer open. Pulling out the black-leather covered journal that was inside, as well as several miscellaneous papers, she slid her nails into a crack in the bottom and pulled up, yanking the false wood bottom with it. She pulled out a laminated card and slipped it into her pocket. Pausing for a moment, she slipped off her jacket and unlocked her harness. Folding her wings down close to her back, she slid the jacket back over her shoulders before heading downstairs. "Later Carson." She called, running into the living room and over to the fireplace. Reaching over, her hand disappeared under the lampshade and she pulled down on one of the supports. There was a rumble and the floor of the fireplace receded into the back wall, and Alexa jumped into the hole it revealed.

Tumbling out of the hole onto a rather large, stuffed mat that was as high as her waist. She climbed off and walked over to a large cylindrical door and pulled the card out of the pocket of her jeans and swiped it through the reader beside the door.

_"Access granted."_ A mechanized voice droned, and the doors slid open with a hiss, revealing a blue beam of glistening light. Alexa stepped right into the light...

... And reappeared in the lobby of Sky Penitentiary. She looked around at the blank gray walls, sighed, and then walked over to the reception desk. The man sitting behind it smiled at her. "Heya, Alexa."

"Clever, Robbie. You think of that one all by yourself?" She teased.

He gave her a wry look and pulled out a flat piece of plastic with a blue holo-screen on top. "You know the drill."

With a sigh, Alexa pressed her hand into the screen. After a moment, it flashed green. "Alright, you're clear." Robbie said, reaching into the desk and pulling out what seemed to be a latching, white plastic bracelet. He clipped it onto Alexa's wrist and she shuddered. Power neutralizing bracelets had always been mandatory for visitors at the Sky Penitentiary. No need for a vengeful family member or lackey trying to bust anyone out. Not that it mattered- all the cells were lined with the same material that the bracelets were made of, and the prisoners had a bracelet mechanically fused to their wrist that only the bio-signature from a member of the NCSH- or National Council of Superheroes- could remove. Or, if there WAS another way, nobody had found it yet.

Starting toward the door, Alexa stopped as a hand grabbed her arm. "Hold it. You know the rules, Alexa." She frowned, confused. "The coat."

"Oh." She said in realization. She slipped the jacket off and handed it to him before continuing toward the door. She folded her wings down and continued through. She went down the blank featureless hall, opening the door at the end and walking into a good-sized room, empty but for a table and two chairs on either side. The door on the other side opened, and two guards walked in, a woman in between them. Unlocking the handcuffs from the woman's wrists, the guards left, shutting the door behind them. The two stood on opposite sides of the room in awkward silence for a moment, then Alexa ran across and threw her arms around the woman's neck. "Hi mom."

Aria Hale wrapped her arms around her daughter's waist and smiled into her hair. "Hey sweetheart." She stepped back and smiled at her daughter. "God, I forget how big you are now."

"I'm almost sixteen, mom." Alexa offered. If anyone had been in the room with the two super-powered women, it would've been obvious where the two Hale girls had gotten their looks. Aria's dirty blonde hair fell down to her waist, and her dark violet eyes were mirrors of Alexa's, with less of a blue tinge from Elliot. Her skin was lighter, but she had the same graceful features, though they were more finely shaped and not affected by their father's strong ones.

Aria stroked her daughter's cheek. "I know, I just forget. Come sit down, I want to talk." The two of them sat down in the chairs around the table. "So how's school been this week? I got your letter, but you didn't say much."

"It's alright. We haven't really done much- oh, my team won Save the Citizen on Wednesday."

"Hey, that's great. That's how your father and I got together, you know. We got paired up on the hero team, then we got partnered together in Mad Science... who was on your team?"

"Will Stronghold."

Aria, surprisingly, smiled. "Steve and Josie's son? Oh I'd love to meet him. Is he nice?"

"If that's your subtle way of asking if he's single, then no. But he is really nice. His girlfriend Layla's really sweet too."

"Layla?"

"A plant user. Her last name's Williams if that's any help..."

Aria paused, then snapped her fingers. "Sage Williams! The girl who could talk to animals, oh what'd she call herself...? It's going to bother me all day now. Maybe Barron remembers..." She mused to herself, but then shook her head. "Never mind that. Have you made any other friends?"

"Yeah. Zach Braun, Magenta Vitz, and Ethan Daniels. They're all sidekicks."

Aria smiled. "Well, I think it's nice to see SOMEONE breaking down the 'hero-sidekick' barriers. What're their powers?"

"Um, Ethan melts, Magenta shape shifts into a guinea pig, and Zach glows in the dark." Aria's eyebrow shot up on that one. "He seriously does. Oh, and then there's Warren."

"Warren Peace?"

Alexa nodded. "He's my partner in Mad Science, and an aide in my pyrokinetics class. Did you know that Vanessa Summers teaches that class?"

"You're old baby sitter?" Alexa nodded. "I can't believe it! She was so sweet, and it helped that she was a pyro too." Alexa blushed. Aria laughed and took her daughter's hand. "I'm glad you came to visit me, Alexa. It can't be easy for you guys back home."

Alexa's gaze lowered to the floor. "It's alright. Dad really misses you, though. Carson would too if she could remember you a little better." Her violet eyes flickered back up to her mom's.

Aria smiled at her sadly. "It's probably better if she doesn't. I miss my baby, but it'll be easier not knowing her villain mother."

"You aren't a villain, mom!" Alexa protested. "You were framed. Dad... dad just couldn't prove it, that's all."

Aria pulled her daughter into an embrace. "I know, Alexa, but I don't hold any grudges. Not even against the Commander. He was only doing what he had to." Aria kissed Alexa's forehead. "You should get going. I'm sure you have better things to do than spend your time up here. Go hang out with your friends or play Guitar Hero."

Alexa nodded, wiping tears from her eyes. "Alright. I love you mom." She whispered, squeezing tighter.

"I love you too, Lexi. Give it to your dad and Carson for me." Alexa nodded once before stepping away from her mother and walking out.

She went back down the hall, pushing open the door at the end. She stopped as she heard voices. "C'mon, Warren. What's a kid your age need a lighter for anyway?"

"It was a present, Robbie. Now give it." Alexa's eyes widened as she saw the Warren Peace leaning slightly over the security desk, a gloved hand held out. He looked away from the grinning guard over to the door and blinked. "Alexa?"

.x.X.x.

"Alexa?" Warren asked, surprised.

Shit. Well, I was busted. Swallowing, I waved slightly. "Hey Warren." His eyes were still locked on the feathery protrusions coming off my back. I folded them closer and walked over to the desk as well. Robbie handed her trench coat and unlocked the bracelet around her wrist. Warren pocketed the lighter he'd grabbed in Robbie's distraction and walked after her back to the teleporters.

"What're you doing here?" Warren asked, his tone slightly demanding. Obviously he was as annoyed at being busted as I was.

"I could be asking you the same thing. I thought you had work." I accused. He looked away. I sighed, now feeling guilty about making him feel bad. "I was visiting my mom."

He looked over at me, surprised. "Your...?" He cut off suddenly, and I heard his stomach rumble. I couldn't help it- I burst out laughing, stopping rather abruptly as my own stomach complained its protests as well.

And that's how we ended up in the small, family owned pizza parlor just down the street from the more public teleporter that was located in the city jail. "You mind pepperoni?" Warren asked.

"Sounds good to me." I shrugged. He walked over to the register as I grabbed a booth. A minute later, he came and sat down, two sodas in his hand. He handed one to me and slid into the seat opposite me.

"So, your mom, huh?" He asked, stirring his ice around with his straw.

I nodded, wrapping both hands around my glass. "Yeah. You ever heard of Snowsong?"

He nodded. "Yeah, she's like The Banshee, only she can freeze things with her voice."

"That's my mom. Banshee's my cousin, by the way. She's a bitch." Warren smirked. "No, but I go up there and visit when I can. Dad won't go 'cause he feels guilty about not being able to prove her innocent, and my sister Carson hardly remembers her. She was only five when mom got arrested."

"I heard about that. A lot of the papers said she was framed." Warren said. "Wish I could say the same for my dad."

"Barron Battle, right?" I asked. He nodded once. "Shoulda asked my dad for help. He has a tendency for taking on cases that are working against him. He doesn't lose very often." I added softly, remembering the times he had lost.

"Who's your dad?"

"Elliot Hale, lawyer. And in his spare time, The Phoenix."

"How the hell does he manage that?"

"I have no clue- but he's hardly home, I can tell you that much. Carson and me basically look after ourselves. Between cases and vigilante moonlighting, all he ever does at home is sleep. He does manage to get in a few rounds of Guitar Hero with me sometimes." Warren had an eyebrow raised. "What?"

"Guitar Hero? Seriously?"

"Hey, I get bored. Besides, Carson's a DDR addict. I'd say I got the better end of that deal." We both looked up as our pizza arrived. I grabbed the first slice and bit into it, instantly regretting it as the sauce burned the roof of my mouth. I cursed, grabbing my coke and slugging half of it down. Warren laughed.

"Smooth."

"Bite me." I replied, touching the roof of my mouth gingerly. THAT was gonna hurt later. "Alright, I spilled about my family, it's your turn."

Warren shrugged, taking a bite of his pizza. "Not much to spill. Only child, my mom doesn't do hero work anymore, and she works for a computer company."

"What about you?"

He sighed. "I work at the Paper Lantern. It's a Chinese restaurant."

I grinned evilly. "Maybe I should go sometime. Carson loves Chinese." He threw a pepperoni at me in response.

"Okay, my turn. You have wings."

I grimaced. I was hoping we wouldn't get to that. "Yeah."

"Is that why you wouldn't let Stronghold take you to the nurse?" My eyes widened. Warren chuckled. "Don't worry- that's the only thing I got Will to tell me."

Sighing, I nodded. "Yeah. When Will hit me, it bent the brace I usually wear to pin them down. That's what was making it hard for me to breathe."

"Why don't you just not wear it?"

I took a bite of my now-cooler pizza. "I've always gotten singled out for my wings- it's genetic on my dad's side, but I'm the only one in my generation who has them. It's embarrassing."

"You're going to a school full of super-powered teenagers." Warren pointed out.

"Yeah, and you sound like my sister." I said dryly. "I just... I don't want anyone to know. I don't like being the center of attention."

Warren leant across the table slightly. "You showed up to the first day of school in a black trench coat down to your ankles."

I relented at that. "Okay, point taken. I've just gotten so used to hiding them, it's hard for me to just let everyone know."

Warren laughed, and I glared at him. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just... I've seen girls worry about weirder."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh yeah? Who?"

"My ex."

My mouth shut instantly. "Oh."

He smirked. "Don't act like I'm going to blow up on you or something. It was mutual. We didn't mix well."

"Like fire and ice?" I asked wryly.

"Very funny." We both jumped slightly as Avril Lavine's "Best Damn Thing" suddenly cut through the air. I yanked out my cell phone.

"My sister." I explained. I flipped it open. "What, midget?"

_"Where the hell are you?"_

"Out. Why?"

_"Hello? You were supposed to be back already! Dad's been waiting forEVER so we can go out to dinner tonight, remember?"_

I did now. Smacking my forehead, I groaned. "Sorry, Car. I forgot. I'll be home in a few minutes, alright? Tell dad I said sorry."

"Problems?" Warren asked as I hung up.

"Not problems... I forgot my dad was taking me and Carson out tonight."

He shrugged. "I actually DO have work."

I laughed. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Hold up, do you need Stronghold's number?"

I blinked. "Yeah, that'd be helpful, since I have no idea how to get to his house." I handed my phone over to Warren, who pulled out his own black Razor and flipped it open. He handed mine back a minute later. "Thanks." I said, standing up.

He smirked again, though this time it was closer to an actual smile. "For the pizza or the number?"

"Both." I replied after a moment and running out.

I hadn't lied to Carson- I was home in less than ten minutes. "Sorry!" I yelled, bursting through the door. Blue let out a yowl and streaked under the couch, making my dad and Carson, who had obviously stolen my PS2 from my room and were now playing Guitar Hero III on it, jump and screw up their solos. I smirked. They deserved it for breaking into my room.

Before my sister could scramble to try and reclaim her virtual audience, dad hit the pause button, making her groan. "Welcome back."

"Sorry. Got sidetracked." I explained without really explaining.

He just shook his head and ruffled my hair. "Well, do you still feel like going out to dinner? I know you probably have homework."

"No, dinner first." I said, knowing I probably wouldn't eat much after the pizza.

I knew I was forgetting something; it was Carson's turn to pick where we ate, and someone at her school had told her about this great Chinese place downtown- guess where?

"Can't we go somewhere else?" I asked as we climbed out of the car.

Carson glared at me. "No way. It's my night, and I want Chinese." I sighed, following her and dad in. This was going to be interesting.

A girl that was probably a little older than I was seated us. My eyes wandered around the restaurant, finally falling on Warren. He stopped what he was doing suddenly (clearing off an empty table), and turned around, his eyes widening when he saw me. I quickly stood up, using the bathroom as my excuse.

"Are you stalking me?" Warren asked me as I walked past him.

I surprised myself as the reply came unbidden to my lips: "You wish." My face flushed bright red and I immediately headed for the bathroom.

Once I was inside, I fell back against a wall, covering my mouth with a hand to try and stifle my laughter. God, _where _had_ that _come from?!

"So, who's the cute busboy?" I jumped to see Carson grinning at me from in front of the closing bathroom door.

"The hell are you doing here?"

She smirked. "Saw you talking to him. Who is he? Boyfriend?"

"No." I said, emphasizing the negative. "His name's Warren and he goes to school with me."

"He the reason you were late coming home?"

I stared at her. "Carson, where does your sick little mind go when you think, huh?" I asked, flicking her forehead.

"You're avoiding the question; he WAS, wasn't he?"

My face flushed pink in the mirror. "Ah! You're blushing! He so is. You were on a date, weren't you?"

I turned to look at her. "Why are you so concerned?" I asked, hands on my hips. "And no, I wasn't."

"Then tell me."

I leant down to her eye level. "Listen, twerp. It's none of your business who my friends are or what I do with them, capiche? Now drop it or I tell dad who really Tee-voed all those horror movies. Got it?" Carson's eyes widened and she bolted, the door swinging in her wake. I grinned and, after washing my hands, walked out. Warren was standing outside the doors to the kitchen, chuckling.

"You are one mean sister."

"Eavesdropping much?"

"Hard not to when you're talking about me. So your sister thinks I'm cute?"

I didn't answer for a moment before sighing. "Apparently yes. Hey, does this place have kids menus?"

Warren raised an eyebrow. "Yes. Why?"

"What would it take for me to convince you to give one to Carson?"

He laughed. "How old is she?"

"Fourteen in two weeks. Please, Warren. Don't make me beg."

He paused, then sighed. "Do you really want me to?"

"If for nothing else, to give me something to color on while they eat. I'm still full from the pizza."

Shaking his head, he looked up at me. "You owe me."

I grinned, realizing he was actually going to do it. "It'll be worth it."

Needless to say, the look on Carson's face was worth seeing when the waiter (not Warren, as he was conveniently busy with something else) gave her a kiddy menu and crayons. It took a lot of effort to not laugh. I offered to switch, which Carson gladly excepted, so I was coloring when the food, and my coke, came. I remained that way until the fortune cookies came and I grabbed one, snapping it in half.

"'Someone close to you will soon be aiming for your heart.'" I read. "So, does that mean I'm going to fall in love or get shot?"

Carson giggled. "Well, we don't own a gun, so it isn't me." I grabbed an ice cube out of my glass and threw it at her. She stopped it midair (damn her ice controlling power), and it fell to the table top. I popped my cookie into my mouth as she cracked hers.

"'You will do well at whatever you put your mind to.'" Carson read drolly. "Well, that's boring."

Dad smiled and ruffled her hair. "Maybe you should put your mind to school instead of beating up poor defenseless boys."

"Where's the fun in that? Besides, I'm not beating them up- it's football. You remembered I have practice tomorrow, right?"

I put my coke down. "Oh, hey, speaking of tomorrow. Dad, Will's having a study thing at his house for Medulla's test tomorrow. Can I go?"

He shrugged. "I don't see why not."

Grinning as he turned back to Carson to talk about practice, I pulled my phone out and quickly opened my text messaging.

_'My dad said yes.'_ I scrolled down to Will's name and hit send. It vibrated a second later and I opened it and giggled.

_'Woo! See you tomorrow.'_ Following was a series of emoticons.

"He's worse than a girl." I muttered.

"Tell me about it." I jumped, then shook my head, grimacing, and turned around to look at Warren.

"How do you keep doing that and why?"

He shrugged, his eyes flickering down to the table; more specifically, the kid's menu I'd been coloring on. He smirked, and I couldn't help grinning back.

Carson's eyes widened, and then she glared at me. "Busted." Warren muttered under his breath as he grabbed my dad and Carson's plates and my cup.

My father turned to me as Warren was walking away. "Alexa…"

I cut him off. "His name's Warren, no I'm not dating him, and he's a kid at my school."

"Oh. Well, alright then." My father had this weird complex- he was alright with my guy friends… as long as I wasn't dating them. Honestly, he never even checked to see if I was lying. Which I hadn't done.

On the way home, Carson and I were fighting over music channels. Finally, dad took over and switched it to a news station.

"_-report just came in that the Four Aces have been spotted downtown. These four villains, who had been reported to have been captured by 'The Phoenix,' stole approximately eight thousand dollars before the winged vigilante last week…_"

Carson and I looked at each other, our eyes wide as dad flicked off the radio.

"Girls," He started, his voice solemn.

"Dad, don't do this again!" Carson begged.

"It's for your own protection. The two of you are not going to leave the house tomorrow."

"But, dad-!" We protested at the same time.

"No arguments." We grimaced. He was using the tone he used to scare witnesses in the courtroom- the one that would stand to no arguing.

I groaned and looked out the window.

Somewhere, I could hear fate laughing at me. She really sucked.

SC: Okay, so a few corrections:

I know I said Layla's last name was 'Green' in the first chapter, but I looked it up on Wikipedia and it said Williams, so that's what I'm sticking with now. And Magenta, Zach, and Ethan's last names came from their actors in real life. I also found out that, unlike what I previously thought, Warren IS a freshman in the movie, which makes him a sophomore in my story… and I had him aiding in a sophomore required class. So, we're saying that, because of his… eh… 'volatile' temper, he was put in it a year earlier, hence why he's an aide in his sophomore year.

I think that should clear up my continuity errors, so read and review!

Ja ne

SC


	4. Old Enemies and Friends

Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High or any of the heroes and/or brand items I make references to in this story. I only own the heroes I make up and the plot.

--

Chapter 4

Old Enemies... and Friends

"I can't believe he's doing this to us." I growled, hitting the 'fire' button on the wireless XBOX 360 controller in my hands.

"Tell me about it. What are we, three?" Carson replied, setting her sights on an alien attempting to sneak up on my character. Carson and I were playing a round of co-op HALO, attempting to relieve some stress about our imprisonment.

If you couldn't tell by the conversation, it wasn't working.

I paused the game, looking at the digital clock on Carson's dresser. "It's almost one- I guess I should call Will." I dug my cell out of my pocket and walked over to the window, hitting the '5' for the speed-dial number I assigned the boy wonder.

It rang twice before someone picked up. "_Hello?_"

"Hey, Will. It's Alexa."

"_Oh, hey. Where are you?_"

I grimaced. "At home. I can't come over."

"_Why not?_"

I looked out the window, tapping my nails against the glass to scare away a bird sitting outside. "Did you hear about the Four Aces gang breaking out last night?"

"_Yeah, why- oh. Your dad put them away, right?_"

"Yeah. And now he won't let me and Carson out of the house."

"_That sucks._"

I pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at it before putting it back. "Was that Warren? You have me on speakerphone?"

Will chuckled sheepishly. "_Um, yeah. You're sure that there's no way for you to come over?_"

"Not a chance. My dad rigged the house to read me and Carson's bio-signatures. We leave and we're busted into next year. Only way I'm getting to that party is if you guys come over here."

There was a pause- too long- at the other end of the line. "Will…" I said slowly.

And, somehow, fifteen minutes later, I was disabling the alarm system to let in my friends. "How do I keep getting talked into this?" I muttered as I unlocked the chain and opened the door.

"Wow." Will said, walking into the living room. "This place is huge."

"I know." I replied, shutting the door after Warren walked in. I would've said something along the lines of 'make yourselves at home,' except that I heard a low, rumbling growl.

"Alexa!" Carson yelled from upstairs. "Blue's out!"

And I turned around just in time to see my cat streaking down the staircase. I threw up my hand, creating a blockade... that Blue just leapt over. Thankfully, I was so accustomed to my psycho kitty's… well, psychotic behavior, I already had a second cage made up in the air to catch him.

Blue was not happy.

I grabbed the cage, making sure that it didn't disappear. Blue hissed at me and swiped through the bars at my hands. I glared at him and the cage shrank slightly. "Carson!"

She ran downstairs. "Sorry, sorry! I tried!" My eyes fell on the claw marks on her arms and hands.

"Go get those cleaned up." I ordered. "I'll put him in the laundry room or something. Carson nodded and went off toward the bathroom. I turned to my friends. "I'm going to go put up my demonic cat and be right back." I walked into the kitchen and kicked open the laundry room door. The cage disappeared, leaving my hands wrapped in Blue's fur. I stuck him in his basket next to the dryer, bolting back out the door and shutting it before he could do the same.

I walked back into the living room, and was immediately met by the stares of my friends. "What?"

"How did you do that?" Will asked.

It took me a moment to realize what he was talking about. "Oh, the cage?" I shrugged. "As long as I'm still touching it, I can control the fire's temperature." I explained rather lamely.

And, thankfully, that was the last said about it because Layla (in her awesomely infinite wisdom) decided that, as this was a study party, we should probably study.

"Describe the difference between a ray and a beam…"

--

"Okay, so what the hell was up with your psycho cat earlier?" Warren asked as we lounged about in the living room. We'd studied for a few hours, gotten bored, and decided that I should grab my PS2 and drag it downstairs. At the moment, I was playing co-op Guitar Hero with Will.

"Oh, Blue? He hates strange guys." I explained, my eyes not leaving the screen. Hey, I was in the middle of a solo. "He'll even attack my dad sometimes if he forgets to take off his costume before he comes in." I paused. "Though that may be because he looks like a giant bird."

"Do I now?" All four of us jumped out of our seats (poor Will actually fell out of his) and turned to see my dad walking out of his "study".

"Dad, you're home. That was faster than I expected. You catch them?" I asked nervously.

"Yes." He said, crossing his arms.

I turned to my friends. "I'll be back in a sec." I said, getting up and following my dad to the kitchen. "Okay, I know this looks bad, but you only said that me and Carson couldn't LEAVE the house."

My father shook his head. "You and your loopholes."

"Never shoulda let me read those law books." I said with a grin. I had just won this battle.

"Alright, alright. At least introduce me." I nodded and walked back out.

"Guys, this is my dad, Elliot Hale. And at the moment, the Phoenix." I said, glancing back at my father in his gold and crimson uniform. "Dad, you met Warren last night, and that's Layla Williams and Will Stronghold."

My dad grinned. "Steve and Josie's son. I was friends with your parents in school."

"I think just about everyone was." Will said with a weak grin.

"Daddy, go change. Please." I begged. He shook his head, but did go upstairs. I put a hand over my eyes, going back to the couch and scooting Warren's feet out of the way so I could sit. I heard a yell from upstairs, then a "Sorry dad!" from Carson before Lancelot and Becca Lynn flew downstairs.

"You have birds too?" Layla asked, obviously delighted.

Becca landed on my shoulder and whistled. "Hello!"

I nodded. "Yeah. This is Becca Lynn. The little yellow missile is Lancelot." I pointed at the insane bird circling the ceiling. "Ooh, watch this." I pointed at Layla. "Becca, that's Layla. Can you say Layla?"

She cocked her head to the side, made a few chirping noises, then, "Hello Layla."

Layla laughed. "Cute." In a matter of seconds, Becca had learned my friends' names and was repeating them over and over.

"Alright, Becca," I said when it began to get annoying, "Shush." She chirped and pulled my hair before flying away and perching on the couch arm next to Will. He petted her feathers lightly.

I turned at footsteps at the stairs. "There, have I stopped embarrassing you now?" My father asked, now dressed in a much more casual T-shirt and jeans. His wings poked through the back of the specially made shirt.

"Slightly." I replied dryly. Will's phone, which was sitting on the table, began ringing rather loudly and annoyingly. It was, unfortunately, his parents telling him to come home. Not two minutes later, Layla's rang, and Warren decided that he had to go to work.

"See you Monday!" Layla called with a wave as she climbed into her mother's eco-friendly car. I waved as they pulled out of the driveway, then scooted out of the way so Warren could get through the door.

"Later." He said with a wave and a slight grin. I nodded and shut the door behind him. With a sigh, I turned back to my Guitar Hero. Yet another Saturday night with no plans...

Yep, my life sucked.

.o0o.

"Okay, I think I might've actually passed that." I laughed as the bell for lunch rang.

Will laughed and clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Then there's hope for you yet." I swatted at his hand, missing as he had already moved around the table and out of range. I grabbed my bag and ran out after him, Warren, and Layla.

"Jerks." I said when I got the lunch table, plopping down next to Magenta. "I'm going to sit over _here_ because you guys are mean."

"We're hurt." Warren said, putting a hand over his heart. The effect, however, was ruined by the grin on his face. As soon as I had opened my Cheese Its, I threw one at him, bouncing it off his forehead.

"Ha! I kill you with cheese crackers!" I taunted, blinking as it smacked my cheek as Warren tossed it back. Before I could retaliate, Layla reached across the table, grabbing it. Deciding to act more immature than I had been, I crossed my arms and pouted. Layla then proceeded to throw the cracker at my head, missing terribly and having it land on the floor.

"That was… rather pathetic, actually." Magenta said, looking over her shoulder. "Nice distance though." Layla grinned at her wryly, sticking her tongue out.

"Well, well. It's a whole table of our favorite losers."

Everyone but me stiffened suddenly, and Will let out a little groan. "Oh no. You've got to me kidding me, not them…"

I looked over Will, Warren, and Layla's heads to see exactly who 'them' consisted of. They didn't look that bad- a girl with chocolate skin and darker hair in a… cheerleading uniform(?) flanked by a tall lanky boy with his hands stuffed into his pockets, his dark hair falling in his eyes on one side, and on the other a much more heavyset boy with a backwards cap on. Both boys were dressed in a more punk fashion than the girl, and all three were smirking toward our table.

"Who are…"

"Did you hear about the incident at Homecoming last year?" Will asked.

"The whole 'Royal Pain turning all the heroes into babies' thing?" Yeah, why?

Warren jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Flunkies."

I felt a rush of wind behind me and turned to see the larger boy standing there, and I couldn't say that I liked the grin on his face. "And who's this?"

"Back off, Speed." Warren growled.

"She your girlfriend or something, Peace?" The boy in the striped shirt asked. I turned to see that he had _stretched_ his way over the lunch tables between us and them. "Can't say she's got great taste."

Warren stood up and turned around, and I could see smoke rising from the shoulders of his jacket. "You really want to go there, Lash?" He growled.

Will grabbed his arm. "Warren, don't do it. Let's just go somewhere else. These losers aren't worth getting detention over."

The smoke lessened slightly, and Warren nodded. Will looked relieved. "The bell's going to ring soon anyway." Layla said, grabbing her stuff. Warren shouldered past Lash and began walking out, the rest of us following.

Then something pinched my ass and I let out a shriek, dropping my stuff.

And a fireball flew past my face.

It's not like having it that close to my face worried me (I'm fireproof, duh.). I was more concerned about who threw it and who it was aimed at. I turned and watched as the blast clipped Lash on the shoulder (which his stretched out arm was still returning to), burning through his shirt and to his skin. Lash glared at him and looked like he was going to retaliate, but his arms suddenly dropped to his sides. "Mr. Peace!" The seven of us turned around to see Principal Powers standing behind us. The flames covering Warren's fists died down and he had a severely "busted" look on his face. "You should know better than to use your powers outside of class. Detention."

Warren nodded silently, but instead of walking over to the door, headed toward me. He bent down and grabbed my stuff. "Here." He said, putting it in my hands before turning and following Principal Powers out.

--

"That is so not fair!" Magenta ranted to her locker, shoving her black and violet clothes inside. "Lash is the one who should be in detention right now, not Warren."

"Tell me about it." Layla said, tying her tennis shoes. "The entire cafeteria saw what happened and no one even said anything."

"Yeah, but neither did we." Maj reminded her. "Where do you think Alexa went?"

Layla shrugged. "I'm really not sure." She confessed, remembering their earlier conversation with the blonde pyro.

_Alexa looked over her shoulder at Layla and Magenta. "Listen, if Boomer suspects anything, just tell him I'm in the nurse's office of something." She directed the two girls, her hand on the bathroom door._

_"But what are you going to do?" Magenta asked._

_"Don't worry about that- just cover for me, okay?"_

_Reluctantly, the two nodded and headed toward the gym as Alexa walked into the bathroom._

With a sigh, Layla straightened up. "Come on. We'd better go before Boomer makes us run laps or something." Magenta nodded and followed the redheaded plant controller out.

--

"Come in." Principal Powers called when there was a knock on the door of her office. The door opened, and she looked up from her paperwork when it clicked shut. She pulled her reading glasses off her nose, surprised. "Ms. Hale?"

Alexa bit her lip. "Um, Principal Powers, I wanted to talk to you about the what happened in the cafeteria."

She raised an eyebrow. "Alright then. Have a seat." She gestured to the chair on the other side of her desk. Somewhat awkwardly, the blonde teenager walked over to the chair and sat down. "Well?" Principal Powers asked gently.

Alexa took a deep breath before looking up at the dark-haired principal. "I- I wanted to tell you that what happened wasn't Warren's fault. I know we aren't supposed to use our powers outside of class, but he only did it because…" Her cheeks turned a dark shade of rose, "Because Lash reached across the cafeteria and pinched my butt. And honestly, Warren just beat me to it." She finished quickly.

"I see." Principal Powers said. She stayed silent for a few minutes contemplating. "First off, I'm glad that you stepped forward and told me what really happened, as I couldn't get a word out of Warren." She chuckled lightly. "Though he DID manage to turn rather red."

Alexa smiled slightly at that. "But, unfortunately, rules are rules, and I'm afraid I can't let Warren out of detention, even if he was only defending your honor." The blonde's smile fell. "I can, however, give him some company when I put Lash in there along with him."

Alexa opened her mouth to protest, but shut it just as quickly and nodded and stood up to go. "Oh, and Alexa?" She stopped before she reached the door. Principal Powers held up a slip of paper. "You may want this to give to Coach Boomer."

The blonde blushed and took the paper before hurrying out.

10010101011010

"So where'd you disappear to during gym?" Layla asked. The three girls were waiting for their friends and/or respective boyfriends in Layla and Magenta's cases.

Alexa blushed light pink. "I went to see Principal Powers to try and bust out Warren."

"Failed miserably, huh?" Magenta asked.

"Yes and no. I didn't manage to get Warren out of trouble, but I did get Lash put in detention."

The three girls turned as the double doors behind them opened, and Warren, Will, Ethan, and Zach walked out. Warren shook his head. "I forgot I how much I _hate_ that room." The pyro muttered, rolling his shoulders.

Alexa looked confused. "The detention room is lined with the same stuff they use in Sky Penitentiary. It cancels out powers." Will explained.

"Oh fun." She said with an obviously sarcastic enthusiasm.

Warren smirked at her suddenly. "You know, the strangest thing happened while I was in there. About five minutes into fourth period, Principal Powers dragged Lash in."

The girls all smiled knowingly, with Alexa's face turning pink yet again. "Really?" Will asked, oblivious to his female friend's silly grins.

Warren looked over at Alexa subtly, still smirking. "Yeah. He was ranting about how my 'girlfriend' ratted him out."

"What'd you do?" Magenta asked with mild curiosity as she watched Alexa's blush darkened to red.

"Punched him. He didn't say much after that. Though I did manage to find out how he, Speed, and Penny got back into Sky High."

"Do tell." Will said, suddenly serious.

"Let's just say it involved a lot of money."

Layla scoffed. "Figures."

"Did he say anything about Royal Pain?" Will asked.

Warren shook his head. "I didn't ask."

"Let's talk about them later." Ethan suggested rather nervously, looking at the crowds of students that were milling around and waiting for the bus. Everyone nodded, shielding their eyes from flying debris that the landing bus kicked up.

--

"I'm home." Alexa called rather listlessly as she closed the door.

Carson looked over at her. "Did a rain cloud just descend over the house or something?"

"Very funny." She replied dryly, heading for the staircase. She stopped, one foot on the first step, turning to Carson. "Hey, is dad downstairs?"

"Yeah, why?"

Alexa abruptly changed paths, going toward the fireplace instead. "I need to talk to him." Pulling the hidden lever, she quickly descended into the revealed entrance.

--

Elliot looked up as his oldest daughter tumbled out of the entrance to his, eh, "office". He closed the screen he was looking at on his computer and turned around his swivel chair. "Alexa? What's up sweetheart?"

"What can you tell me about Royal Pain's henchman getting busted out of jail?"

He frowned. "I hadn't heard anything about that. Their parents must have paid a fortune. Why?"

"They're enrolled back in Sky High."

He shook his head. "The Council must have seen it fit to let them complete their senior year." The 'Council' Elliot referred to was the National Council of Superheroes- a group of humans and supers who regulated hero action.

"Have you heard anything about Royal Pain?"

"Unfortunately, it seems that Royal Pain- or Gwen Grayson or Sue Tenny or whichever you prefer- went insane during her stay in Sky Penitentiary. She's been in solitary confinement for almost five months. Why?"

"Just curious." She half-lied. "I'm gonna go get started on my homework."

"Anything I can help with?"

Alexa shook her head, smiling wryly. "Not unless you want to write my 'History of the Hero' report for me."

Elliot chuckled, turning around. "No thanks. I hated that class."

--

"Yo! Earth to Alexa." I jerked up in my seat.

"What, Carson?"

"Shouldn't you be getting ready? The bus'll be here soon." I looked over at the clock on the stove.

"Oh shit. Great day for me to be a scatterbrain." I chugged the last of my cereal and tossed the bowl in the sink, running upstairs for my coat and backpack. I made it back downstairs just as the bus arrived, and I rushed out the front door.

"Did someone forget to brush her hair this morning?" Layla asked as I sat down. I groaned and slammed my head back against the seat.

"Ugh, I've just been so scatterbrained this past week. I sat there playing with my cereal for like fifteen minutes this morning." I looked over as Layla pulled a green handled hairbrush out of her bag and offered it to me. I ran it through my hair a couple times. "Better?"

"Much." Magenta said, tugging on my now neat hair from the seat behind me. I smacked her hand away (she retaliated by tugging on my hair again) as the bus stopped and let another student on.

A couple stops later, Warren Peace climbed up the bus steps and plopped down next to me. "You get your homework for Ms. Summers done?"

I nodded. "It's one of the few things I have managed to focus on lately. Probably because it's my easiest class."

"Funny, from the way Warren talked about her last year, you would've thought she was the devil in a skirt." Will teased. Warren turned and gave Will a 'shut your mouth' glare as I snickered.

--

"Alexa, stop laughing."

"I can't help it. I just can't see you as having trouble with a class for pyros." She giggled. Warren glared at her.

Magenta patted Warren's shoulder. "At least she's treating you better than we did."

All of them looked up at the sound of mean laughter to see Lash and Speed playing a game of 'keep away' with some kids backpack.

Will groaned. "Not again. Don't they ever get tired of this?"

"No." Warren said, heading toward them. Layla put a hand on his shoulder.

"Warren, you've already gotten detention TWICE in the past week because of those two. Let us handle this." Warren just smirked and crossed his arms, making a 'go ahead' motion.

"Hey!" Lash yelled as Will flew up and grabbed the backpack out of his hands.

"I don't believe this is yours." He said with a grin that dared Lash to try and take it back. Which the stretchable teen would've tried to do if a line of blue flames appeared in the air between Lash's hands and Will. Speed had gotten tangled in the grass, which had suddenly grown high enough to engulf his waist and effectively stop him from moving.

Will floated down to the ground. "Here."

The kid took his bag back. "Thanks." He slung the strap over his shoulder and looked up, his eyes widening. "Alexa?"

She let out a surprised gasp and ran over. "Nate? Oh my god, what… what are you doing here?"

"Late bloomer." He said, obviously in shock. "But, you…? This is the school that you transferred to?"

Alexa nodded. There was a cough from behind her. She blushed and turned to the group standing behind her. "Guys, this is Nate Roberts. He's a friend of mine from my old school."

He blushed slightly and pushed his glasses up his nose. Messy, coppery hair fell around his face, and round-rimmed glasses rested over emerald green eyes. His smoky grey sweater and black jeans were baggy on him, and one of his tennis shoes was untied. He blushed, turning his lightly tanned skin dark brown. "Um, hi."

"Hi." Will greeted. "I'm Will." Everyone quickly introduced themselves.

"So what's your power?" Warren asked.

"I-I'm a telekinetic." Nate answered meekly.

Magenta laughed. "Aw, Warren, I think you're scaring him."

Alexa shoved her. "Be nice, Maj. Nate's just shy."

"Oh, thanks Alexa." He muttered.

She laughed and put an arm around his shoulders. "Hey, you're getting better. If I remember correctly, you couldn't even talk to a girl when I met you. It made being lab partners kinda difficult."

Nate just blushed darker and pushed her arm off. "Alexa..."

"Alright, alright." They all looked up as the bell rang.

"Let's go." Magenta sighed.

--

SC: Okay, so it seems pointless, but this was basically just an introduction chapter. Or, re-introduction in some cases. Besides, I was starting to ramble. There will be plot (a little) next chapter, promise! But for now, R&R please!

Ja ne

SC


	5. Crush

SC: Okay, so I see that everyone's eager to finally to get the plot in this story. So am I. Therefore, I'm going to attempt to get some plot in here. And, if you can't tell by the title, some fluff. Maybe.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High or any of the heroes and/or brand items I make references to in this story. I only own the heroes I make up and the plot.

--

Chapter 5

Crush

"Nate, hurry up!" I laughed, running toward the bus.

"Alexa, slow down!" He pleaded, hurrying after me. I climbed the bus steps and scooted past Warren and snagged my seat just as my telekinetic friend climbed up the steps. He plopped down behind Warren and next to Ethan.

"You're mean." Warren said with a grin. I stuck my tongue out at him. It had been about a week since Nate had started at Sky High, and a few new ground rules had been laid. One was that, like they had with Ethan, Magenta, and Zach, Lash and Speed had learned that if he was a friend of Will Stronghold and Warren Peace, that Nate was off limits to bullying. Then again, they weren't the only one threatening potentially painful DOOM on the two villains, so I really wasn't to talk.

Not that Nate couldn't handle himself- he just couldn't think straight enough to use his telekinesis when he was being picked on. He was also probably the smartest kid in school, and Professor Medulla's new teacher's pet. He couldn't get in our class, since it was full after I joined, but all we EVER heard about was Nate.

"So is there some reason that you feel the need to ditch me?" Nate asked, leaning up to look at me.

"Because it was my turn." I said, still grinning like an idiot. "And on Monday, it's going to be… um…"

"Mine." Warren saved me from flustering. "And then Will."

"Hey, leave me out of this. This is the pyro club. I am not a part of it."

"We have a club?" I asked.

Warren shrugged. "Apparently so."

Magenta leant over Zach to look at us. "Hey, what were you guys saying about Medulla's project earlier?"

All the 'heroes' of the group- excluding Mr. Smarty Pants Nate of course- groaned. "He's making us describe, categorize, and write an essay on a series of poisons and antidotes." Layla sighed.

"Thankfully we're not actually testing the poisons this time." Warren said dryly. "We got to watch a video."

"Probably the first in, like, the history of Medulla's class." Layla added in. Warren nodded.

"Thank god Principal Powers came in and stopped Medulla before he could force that creepy pink one down Larry's throat." I said.

Will shuddered. "I didn't like that one. Anything that hisses while it bubbles is not going anywhere near my mouth."

"I was a little more disturbed by the fact that it let off black smoke." I said.

"Yeah, I gotta go with Alexa." Warren said, jerking his thumb at me. "Anything THAT color pink letting off THAT much black smoke is not a good thing."

Will sighed. "Yeah, but at least last time we did the poison thing, we didn't have to write essays."

"Fear the wrath of a pissed mad scientist." Nate said wisely. "And you don't have anything to complain about; did you guys forget who my lab partner is?"

"Ooh, sorry Nate." I apologized. Nate, had, unfortunately and to Medulla's annoyance, been stuck with Lash. Medulla had attempted to split up the terrible twosome (Lash and Speed) who had been stuck in the same class, and paired them up with two rather unfortunate students, one of whom was Nate.

"Look at it this way- at least Lash won't beat up his ticket to a passing grade." Warren suggested not very helpfully.  
"Thanks, Warren. That really makes me feel better." He replied dryly. Layla reached across the aisle and punched Warren's arm.

"I can't believe that he made it due on Monday." Will groaned.

"I can." Layla said. The bus screeched to a halt in front of my house.

"Later guys." I said, scooting by Warren.

--

"How do you like me now?" I asked, grinning over at Carson, who was pouting. I had, once again, defeated her at vs. on Guitar Hero.

"Shut up." She muttered, flipping to a new song. Before she could start it though, my back pocket started singing Three Days Grace's "Riot;" Warren's ringtone.

"Hey Warren." I said holding it in between my shoulder and ear so I could get my hand back on the note buttons. Carson had picked her best song: "Miss Murder" by AFI.

"_Hey Alexa- why do I hear Miss Murder?_" Oops. Loud T.V.

"Ignore it." I said, continuing to press buttons. "What's up?"

"_Oookay… I was wondering if you wanted to meet up with me tomorrow to work on the report._"

I nearly dropped the phone and totally screwed up my solo. Hitting pause, I grabbed the slipping cell with my hand. "Um, yeah, sure. Where?"

"_How about the Paper Lantern at about three? That's when I get off work._"

"Okay- Carson!" I yelled as my sister stole my guitar and unpaused the game.

"_I knew it; you're playing Guitar Hero._"

"No!" I defended. I could almost see the cynicism on his face. "Okay, yeah, but now I'm losing so I hope you're happy."

He laughed. "_Very._"

"Hanging up now." I said, taking the phone and shutting it.

"Was that Warren?" Carson asked teasingly.

I raised an eyebrow. "Well, considering that was his ringtone, and I said his name at least once, what do you think, Carson?"

"Ooh, defensive."

"No, annoyed." I said as I watched as my character was booed off stage. "Pick a new song, cheater."

"It's your turn." I shook my head and started scrolling through our list of songs. "So what did he want?"

"We're meeting up tomorrow to work on a project for Mad Science and why are you grinning like that?" I asked, stopping my scrolling to look over at her devious little hellion grin. My eyes widened. "No."

"No what? I didn't say anything."

"No, I don't like Warren."

"I didn't ask you if you liked Warren."

"You were thinking it."

"Ooh, developing some latent psychic abilities are we?"

"Carson." I said, not amused.

She sighed. "Okay, okay. But there's nothing wrong with liking him. He's kinda cute."

"A little young for him, aren't you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Duh. But, no offense Alexa, you'd make a cute couple."

I blushed a little. "I've known him for, like, a month. He's a good guy, but that's a little soon to be making assumptions, isn't it?"

"Not really." Carson said. "I've seen people say I love you in less."

"Yeah, but those people are usually broken up in another month." I reminded her dryly. She conceded to that with a nod.

"You could try though."

I shook my head. "I'm not going to ask him. If he asks me, which is not going to happen, trust me, I'll think about it." I looked at her suspiciously. "Why are you so concerned anyway?"

"I'm just trying to help." She said innocently. _'Yeah right.'_ I thought to myself, turning back to the T.V. screen. Carson groaned as she saw what song I chose- Through the Fire and Flames. "You suck sis."

"Shut up and play."

-The Next Day-

Alexa smiled slightly as the Paper Lantern came into sight. Her dad had been busy with a case and couldn't drive her, so she'd had to walk the distance that took fifteen minutes in a car (then again, that was accounting for traffic, too). She glanced down at her cell phone. 2:47. She was earlier than she'd expected to be, which meant that Warren probably wasn't done with his shift yet. She walked inside, deciding that air conditioning was better than hot sun any day of the week.

"Wow." She said as she walked in. The Paper Lantern was packed. She spotted Warren and scooted toward the waiting area, leaning over the wall and smiling at him. "Little busy, huh?"

Warren seemed surprised to see her. "You're early."

She shrugged. "I had to walk, and I miscalculated the distance. I don't mind waiting until your shift's over."

"Alright. You may want to wait outside, though. It's getting kind of crowded in here." Alexa laughed and nodded, maneuvering back through the crowd and out the door. And eight minutes later, she looked up as Warren slid out the doors, pulling on his jacket.

He held his hand out to her. "Snagged you a cookie."

She giggled. "Sweet." She took it and, after removing its plastic wrapper, broke it in half and pulled out the fortune. "'Good Luck bestows upon you. You will get what your heart desires.'" She read aloud. "Hey, maybe that means my dad's gonna get me a car soon." She popped the cookie in her mouth and looked over at Warren. "What's yours say?"

He shoved the piece of paper in his pocket. "Nothing good." A smirk tugged at the corners of Alexa's mouth at the look on Warren's face. 'Nothing good, or something embarrassing?' She thought to herself.

Deciding it wasn't worth the trouble of trying to get Warren to talk, she changed the subject. "So where, exactly, are we going?"

"There's a restaurant downtown that I go to when I want to be left alone."

"And yet you're taking me there?"

"Against my better judgment, yes." Alexa aimed a punch at his head, which he easily dodged away from with a smirk.

After a few more minutes of walking, Warren came to a halt. Alexa looked up at the restaurant they'd stopped in front of- a rather small, not too crowded diner. "This it?"

"Why do you sound so surprised?"

Alexa shrugged. "I'm not really. I was just half-expecting some goth, emo cafe. Not a cutesy little diner." This time, it was Warren swiping at HER head. She laughed as she ducked. "I kid, I kid!"

He rolled his eyes, sighing a little. "C'mon, let's go."

Alexa said 'ow' as he punched her shoulder on their way through the door.

--

"You're sure you don't want me to write it?" I asked as I stole another one of Warren's french fries.

"No, Alexa." He responded, not looking up at me. "I've seen your notes- my handwriting's better than yours."

I stuck my tongue out at him (which was pointless because he wasn't looking up at me anyway) and reached for another fry. Warren grabbed my wrist, and his eyes flickered up to my face with an 'I don't think so' look. "Don't you have your own fries?"

I looked guiltily down at my own plate, which was actually half empty. "Yeah…"

"Then why do you keep stealing mine?"

"Because yours taste better?" I offered lamely. He rolled his eyes and pushed my hand back across the table.

"Eat your own." He said, grabbing one of his and eating it. "Alright, what are we on?"

I looked down at our list, then grinned and held it up for him to see. Warren grinned. "Finally." He sighed. "We're done."

"And Medulla thinks he's so evil." I laughed.

"No, just mad." We both started slightly as Warren's cell phone went off, playing Linkin Park's 'What I've Done.' He flipped it open. "What d'ya want, Stronghold?" He asked. "Yeah, we just finished, why? ... I don't know, do you want me to ask her?" He looked over at me. "Will wants to know if you want to go to that new theme park that opened downtown. His parents got a bunch of free passes."

"Hell yeah!" I answered with a grin.

He shook his head. "Alexa says yes." He paused. "Well, I don't have much of a choice, now do I?" I giggled, smothering the noise with a hand. He glared at me, though not all that angrily, before going back to his conversation with Will. "Yeah, okay. We'll meet up with you there." He clicked his phone shut. We paid for our food (though I insisted on paying the tip) and left, heading toward the theme park.

--

"This place is freaking HUGE." Zach said as we looked over a fold out map that Magenta had snagged on our way in. "Where do we start?"

My eyes fell on a large rollercoaster in the central area of the park. "That." I said, pointing. Nate, Ethan, and Will (surprise, huh?) immediately looked queasy. "Oh you've gotta be kidding me." I said. "Will, you FLY."

"Yeah, but I can control it then." He said.

"Well I want to ride roller coasters. Magenta, Warren, you'll come with me, right?"

Magenta shook her head. "Not a good idea. I panic on loops, and when I panic, I shift. I'd rather not become a guinea pig pancake."

"Definitely not the most glamorous way to go." Warren agreed.

I groaned, throwing my hands in the air. "Oh, you people are no fun."

"If you really want to go, Alexa, I'll go with you." Nate offered meekly.

I smiled at him. "No offense, Nate, but last time you rode a rollercoaster, you puked your guts out. And it was relatively tame compared to what I ride."

I heard Warren sigh. "I'll go with you." I would've hugged him, but he probably would've kicked my ass, so I settled for a grin and jumping up happily instead.

"Really?" He nodded. I took one more glance at the map before grabbing Warren's arm and pulling him off. "Meet up with you guys later." I called over my shoulder as Warren tugged his arm out of my grasp.

--

"Ooh..." Alexa moaned as she staggered down the steps of 'The Spine Bender'. Warren looked over at her from where he was waiting at the exit and ran over.

"You okay?"

"Not really..." She replied, swaying slightly where she stood.

"Going to listen to me next time, aren't you?"

She glared up at him, but then paled uneasily. "I'd hit you if I could figure out which one of you to hit." Warren sighed.

"Close your eyes." Alexa did so, and almost fell over. Would have too, if Warren hadn't grabbed her arm first and pulled her back to balance. "Five times, Alexa. Five."

"Shut up." She begged, leaning up against him.

Warren felt his face flush slightly, but wrapped an arm around the girl and led her over to a bench. Alexa put her head in her hands. "You were right." She mumbled, her voice muffled by her palms. "I shoulda stopped after two."

"Told you so." Warren replied. Alexa made a rather rude gesture in his general direction, not looking up. Warren had yet to remove his arm from around her back, and to tell the truth, the warmth radiating from his body felt rather calming. She sat up slowly as she felt her head stop spinning around like a top. "Better?"

"Sort of." She said. "I think I can walk. Stagger, at least." Warren helped her to her feet.

"What happened to YOU?" Magenta asked as Warren and Alexa walked up. Alexa glared at her.

Warren decided to answer. "Someone decided it would be fun to ride the Spine Bender… five times. In a row."

"Well, I figured out why there wasn't a line, didn't I?" She muttered, half-sarcastic, under her breath. "Where're Will and Layla?" Magenta smirked and jerked her thumb over her shoulder.

Warren and Alexa stared for a moment before laughing. "You have got to be kidding me." Warren grinned. "How did Stronghold get talked into that?"

Nate smiled. "Oh, something like this." He turned to Magenta. "'Hey Will, do you want to come ride that one with me?'" Nate asked in a rather bad imitation of Layla, pointing to said hilarious ride.

Magenta decided to be a good sport and played along. "Sure Layla, why not?" They had their four friends in stitches as they linked arms and promptly began to skip- yes, _skip_- over toward the ride. They came back a moment later.

"Actually, that was pretty accurate." Ethan admitted, pushing his glasses up on his nose slightly. "Though, they didn't skip."

"Artistic license." Nate covered.

Warren nodded, obviously trying to hold back his amusement. "Yeah, I don't think Layla's voice is quite that..."

"Masculine?" Ethan offered. Warren nodded.

"Notice he says nothing about Maj playing Will." Alexa points out teasingly, poking Warren in the ribs. He smacked at her hand, scooting away slightly. One of Alexa's eyebrows rose curiously, but she didn't do anything else.

A moment later, Will and Layla walked up. "Oh, hey, you're back." Will said casually.

"Yeah." Warren said. "Very observant."

Alexa stepped between them. "Okay, before Warren slices us to pieces with his razor sharp cynicism, where are we headed?"

"I wanted to check out the haunted house." Magenta offered. The rest of the group shrugged or nodded in agreement.

"Haunted house it is." Ethan said.

As they started walking away, Warren looked over at Will, smirking. "So, Stronghold,"

"Warren..." Will said, eyeing the taller, older boy suspiciously.

"How was the Tunnel of Love?"

"... I hate you guys."

--

Alexa looked up at Warren as the two of them walked through the 'Haunted House' ride. It wasn't bad- but it wasn't really scary to anyone who could sit through a modern day horror flick. "Hey, Warren?"

"What?" He jumped as she poked him in the ribs again, letting out a snort of unwanted laughter.

"Knew it." She grinned, Warren only catching the expression in the flashing strobe light. "You're ticklish."

He opened his mouth to protest, but realized it was useless as she already knew. "Yes, okay? Just in that one spot." He warned. "And I swear, if you tell anyone..."

"Warren, you're ticklish." Alexa said dryly. "It's not like I'm going to say you collect 'My Little Ponies' or something." She paused. "You don't, do you?"

"The only contact I've ever had with one of those possessed plastic horses is when I melted a couple of my cousin's." Alexa couldn't help laughing. "What's so funny?"

"I did that to Carson once. But it was a Barbie, not a My Little Pony."

"You're sister has Barbies?"

"Not anymore." Alexa corrected quickly. "She used to, though, and I got pissed off because she was hogging the dress I liked- I swear to god if you start laughing I'll kick your ass." She said, seeing the grin on his face.

He forced it away, though she could still see the amusement in his eyes. "Totally not laughing. Go on."

Alexa rolled her eyes, looking over at a werewolf that was poised over a decapitated body, bloody chunks of flesh dripping from its fangs. "They better have an age limit on this place... anyway, I got pissed off, and next thing you know, the hair of the doll she was holding caught fire, and Barbie no longer had a head. That was also the day we found out Carson had powers."

"She didn't."

"Oh, she froze my ass good." Alexa giggled. "It took my dad fifteen minutes to completely thaw me out." She looked up at him. "I have no idea why I'm telling you all this."

"Because you brought up My Little Pony and that somehow led to Barbie dolls."

She shoved him lightly. "That's not what I meant."

Warren paused to think, looking over at a rather ridiculous looking Dracula display. "Because we're friends?"

Alexa opened her mouth to respond when she let out a rather loud shriek and spun around. Warren looked over startled. "What?"

"I don't know, but I swear to god something just grabbed me." She said, looking around at the tunnel behind them with a hand covering the back of her neck.

Warren shook his head after a moment of examination. "There's nothing there."

Alexa nodded after a moment, looking confused and rather startled still, before turning around and continuing through the ride, though considerably closer to Warren's side. Then they heard the snickering and knew exactly what was going on. Alexa whipped around, her face red with fury. "Lash!" She growled.

Warren grabbed her shoulder, feeling her temperature rising under his palm. "Alexa, don't. They (because he knew that Speed and Lash were practically attached at the hip) aren't worth it."

"Ah, c'mon, Peace. We were just trying to scare Lexi a little." Lash called, stepping out from behind the Wolfman exhibit. Speed zipped up from seemingly nowhere.

Alexa's eye twitched. "Don't. Call. Me. Lexi." She hissed, her hands balling into fists at her sides. Smoke poured out from between her fingers, and Warren had a feeling that, if she opened her hands, there would be some rather painful blue fireballs resting in them. Painful for Lash and Speed, anyway.

Warren tightened his grip on her shoulder. "Alexa, don't." When he saw she wasn't about to comply, he moved his hand from her shoulder to her forearm and put his other arm around her shoulders and forcibly turned her around.

She broke out of his grip a second later, her hand wrapped around Lash's wrist and smoke pouring out from where her skin was touching. After Lash had been writhing for a couple of moments, she let go, letting his arm retract back to his body. The elastic teen grabbed his now scorched wrist and glared at the blonde pyro. She smirked at him darkly. "Any body part of yours come near me again, and I swear that I'll cauterize it _off_. C'mon, Warren."

Warren started laughing long before they were out of the two bullies ear shot.

--

"That was amazing." Warren said, grinning over at Alexa.

Magenta cocked an eyebrow. "Warren's giving out compliments? What'd you do, Alexa?"

She shrugged casually. "Nothing, really."

"Lash and Speed were in the haunted house." Warren supplied.

Will grinned. "This oughta be good."

Alexa sighed, but a grin was forming on her face. "He went for my ass again, so I grabbed his wrist and scorched it a little."

"Not to mention threatened to burn off any part of his body that came near her again." Warren added.

"Alexa!" Layla gasped. "I don't like Lash- or Speed, for that matter- anymore than the rest of us, but isn't that a little harsh?"

"Not really." Alexa said with another casual shrug. "I mean, I could always just sue him for sexual harassment."

Zach frowned. "Wait, how is that worse?"

"Sexual harassment gets you suspended, and repeated offences can get you expelled." Ethan explained.

"Oh."

"Yeah, and I don't think he'd be able to have his parents bribe his way back in after a SECOND expulsion." Nate said, smirking. "I say, go Alexa." She gave a rather dramatic bow, straightening up with a proud grin on her face still.

"And, as much as I'd LIKE to fulfill my promise to Lash, I'd really rather avoid them the rest of the day, so can we go?" She asked. The others nodded and the group headed for a different section of the park.

--

"I really, really hate them right now." I grumbled, resting my cheek on a fist as I sat on a bench next to a chuckling Warren Peace.

"Just because 'The Spine Bender' has scarred you for life doesn't mean that we can't let the others be totally and emotionally raped." I looked over at him, eyebrow raised in question. "What?"

I opened my mouth to respond, then shook my head. "Never mind."

"What?"

"Never mind." I repeated with a bit more force. Warren rolled his eyes and looked over at the line. Poor little sheep, going straight to the slaughter, I couldn't help thinking as I saw Will wave over at us. Warren managed a small wave back, and I started humming a funeral march. "You know, they didn't even want to ride this earlier."

Warren shrugged. "We went on every other rollercoaster in the park. They probably figure that they can handle it."

"I guess." I conceded. "I still don't know how they got Nate on all of 'em. Last time we went to a park like this, I had trouble getting him on the spinning teacups. He gets sick so easily."

"He hasn't looked that bad today." Warren said. I nodded, frowning.

Finally, I just shrugged, figuring it wasn't important enough to waste valuable brain energy on. "I guess he grew out of it."

"It's a possibility."

I shook my head, letting out a small chuckle. "Thank you, Mr. Apathetic." Warren shoved me, forcing me to shove him back in retaliation, and so on and so forth.

"Hey!" Warren said as I grabbed the lapels of his jacket to stop from falling off the bench.

"Truce." I ordered, my grip on his jacket tightening.

"Okay, okay. Truce. Now let go of my jacket." He said, prying my fingers off of the leather.

"God, you are such a girl about that thing." I teased. He raised an eyebrow warningly and moved to push me again. I held my hands up in surrender. "Shutting up, shutting up." We managed to sit in relative peace for a few minutes, watching our friends progress closer and closer to the front of the line (apparently, everyone in the park got real courageous at the exact same time).

Finally, breaking the silence, Warren looked over at me. "Can I ask you something?"

I shrugged. "Shoot."

"Does it hurt?" I blinked, confused. "Sitting. On your wings?"

"Oh!" I said in realization. "No, not really. It's a little uncomfortable, but it isn't like there're bones or anything in the bottom. Just feathers and skin."

He frowned slightly, looking as though he didn't believe me. "What about the brace?"

I shifted uneasily, feeling said object rub up against my skin as I did, and looked away from Warren's surprisingly disconcerting gaze. "Not really. You get used to it." I felt a stab of guilt- I was lying to him. Again. I sighed, feeling my conscience kick in. "I'm sorry. That's a lie. It always hurts." Warren didn't say anything, and I glanced over at him to see him staring straight off into space. My gaze fell from his profile to his wrists, and I frowned slightly as I saw a line of orange on his skin. Without really thinking, I pushed back the sleeve of his jacket slightly. Warren, out of reaction more than anything, I think, jerked his arm away, nearly hitting me. "Sorry." I apologized again. I could see what had caused the strange coloring clearly now- a line of flame tattoos encircled Warren's wrist.

"Don't do that." He said, setting his hand back down. I saw him glance over at the line to see if any of the others had seen. If they had, they were hiding it marvelously.

"I wasn't thinking." I explained rather apologetically. "When'd you get it?"

"Them." He said, holding out his other wrist to reveal a similar, if not identical, ring of flames.

"Them, then." I corrected.

He smirked slightly. "I got 'em when I went to juvy freshman year."

I frowned. "You... so that's why you're a year older than all of us and…"

"Yeah. I missed too much of the year and got held back." He said. "Otherwise I'd be graduating next year, instead of with you guys."

After, that we changed the subject. We kept talking for a while, mainly about whatever popped into our head. He laughed as I asked him if he'd teach me how to cuss in Chinese, and that's when I realized that Carson had been- ugh- _right_.

Warren Peace was cute. Really cute. Cute bordering on the verge of hot (pun definitely intended). Then he smiled at me- you know, one of those real ones where he's not about to let off some sarcastic or insulting comment.

See me. See me fall hard.

Crap.

See, I had this problem; _me _plus _boys _plus _relationships _equaled _disaster_. The last boyfriend I'd had, who I really thought I was serious for, had ended up cheating on me with another- older- girl. So, after seven months, that relationship went down the hole with me having nothing to show for it but a box in my closet that I'd filled with pictures and other such reminders that I then ductaped shut. Not to mention that my dad was an over-protective goober and I wasn't actually allowed to go on dates until I was sixteen. Which, well, sucked, but I really didn't mind that much, as I had come to the revelation that boys- especially the teenage variety- were jerks and no one needed them.

Until now.

Well, there went THAT plan out the window.

And I couldn't even- honestly- put him to the back of my mind with a, 'oh, well sure he's cute, but looks aren't everything.' Warren was the first guy who'd actually successfully challenged my sarcastic bitchyness and hadn't cowered away from my fiery tongue when I fought back. He had more personality than the 'goth, emo, pyrokinetic bully' that everyone labeled him as (actually, I'm not sure how he managed to maintain THAT reputation. I mean, look who he was hanging out with!). I had known him for a little over a month, and I already knew that he could be nice, he was a great friend, loyal to the death (all you have to do is watch him play 'Save the Citizen' to figure that one out. I mean, if he's that loyal to his teammate- well, usually Will- in a GAME in P.E. class, can you imagine what he'd do in real life?), and not as tough as acted. Hell, no one was THAT badass... well, okay, maybe Warren was. But no one else.

Hence, we reach another problem number two: I now had a crush on WARREN PEACE, a.k.a the boy who does not date. From what I could pry out of the others, Warren and Celia hadn't lasted long before their mutual split up, and he'd never shown signs that he was into someone else. Like, ever. After a _year_. Then again, they had started "dating" after one dance at Homecoming, and I'd known Warren for a month...

I pulled the mental emergency brake on my train of thought right there. This was not happening. I was not going to even consider going out with Warren as an option, as he'd either laugh in my face or never speak to me again. Thankfully, I became very distracted suddenly as the rest of our motley crew walked up, all looking rather tipsy. Nate was flat out green. "Have fun?" Warren asked with a mock-cheerfulness. Nate promptly ran off to a nearby trashcan.

"Not funny, Warren." Will said, glaring at him.

"Will, you don't have laser vision- Superman you are not." I reminded him. "You can't lobotomize Warren by glaring at him. Or me." I added when his gaze fell upon me.

Once everyone had regained their equilibrium, or emptied their stomachs in certain cases, we decided to head home. As we were walking through the park gates, Magenta turned to me.

"Hey, Alexa, Layla and I were going to have a girl's night over at my place. Do you wanna come?"

And then the great lady Fate decided to play another one of her cruel jokes on me; before my brain could stop it, my mouth opened. "Sure. What time?"

It was official; going to Sky High had officially and totally fucked up my brain.

--

SC: Okay, so, that was a really long chapter, and we didn't get any plot until the very end there with Alexa's little epiphany.

Alexa: Yeah, and it only took you ten pages.

SC: Bite me, I can't help if I ramble.

Puck: Sure you can. It's called the 'delete' button.

SC: I'm about to delete you if you don't shut up!

Puck: I'm terrified. Really. But then you'd have to find another muse.

SC: ... shut up. Anyway, sorry for another basically pointless chapter, but it's fun, right? And I'm sorry it took so long to update, but we had a huge storm that killed our modem. It's all better now, though, so yea internet! Reviews appreciated muchly!

Ja ne  
SC


	6. Clash, part 1

SC: Woo, people are still reading! I promise, this is actually going to start progressing soon… I think. I seem to be saying that a lot lately, don't I?

Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High, blah, blah, blah. You get the point, right?

--

Chapter 6

Clash

I was not the happiest camper in the world as I walked through the front door of my house. "Dad? You home?"

"In the kitchen." He called back. I proceeded through the living room and into the kitchen, pausing at the sight. No matter how many times I saw it, I would _never _get used to seeing my father cooking in a frilly, 'Kiss the Cook' apron. "What's up?" He asked.

I bit my lip. "Well, see, Magenta kinda invited me over to her place tonight... I just wanted to make sure it was okay with you."

I was praying, at that moment, that he would say no, forbid me to go over because there was some recent crime syndicate breakout and it wouldn't be safe. Instead, he smiled. "Of course it is, Lexi! I think it's a great idea for you to go hang out with your friends."

Well, there went my backup plan. "Thanks, dad." I said, turning and walking out of the kitchen. "Thanks a lot." I added under my breath as I went up the stairs.

And so, at seven fifteen, I was knocking on Magenta's door. She opened it, grinning. "Hey. Thought you weren't gonna show up for a minute."

I shrugged. "Well, I'm here."

She nodded toward the back of the house. "C'mon, my room's this way."

Magenta's room was exactly what I had expected- lots of blacks and violets, with a lot of punk band posters on the wall. Layla stood out rather well against Magenta's violet comforter in her lime green and white PJs. "Hey." She greeted.

I set my bag down. "Hey." Layla offered out a box.

"Pizza?"

"Yes." I said, eagerly snatching a piece from the box. And so I basically forgot about the whole 'not wanting to be here' thing as we got swept up in stupid movies with gorgeous main characters, pizza, soda, junk food, and more soda.

"There's no way those are real." Magenta said, pointing to the girl on the screen.

"They could be."

I shook my head. "No, Layla. They aren't. No possible, physical way that she's THAT small and her breasts are THAT huge." We all looked up as there was a knock on the door.

"Start getting to bed soon, girls." Magenta's mom called through the wood.

"Okay mom!" Magenta called. She sighed. "Guess we oughta get in our pajamas too."

I choked on the Cheeto I was eating as my earlier fears flooded back into my brain. I couldn't exactly explain away the fact that I wanted to wear my trench coat to bed without raising some serious suspicions. I dug my PJs out of my bag and scooted for Magenta's bathroom, pushing the door shut. My coat pooled around my feet as I unbuttoned it and shrugged it off, and I stared in the mirror. I sighed, leaning my hands against the sink. "How are you going to talk your way out of this one, Alexa?" I muttered to myself. Sighing again as no brilliant epiphany struck me, I reached up and undid the locks holding my brace in place. The left came open with a clean 'click', but the right stuck in place, firmly holding.

I groaned. Not tonight… with a growl, I tugged at the lock, trying to force it open. And force it open I did… and then it fell to the floor, making a rather loud clatter against the tile.

Oops.

"Alexa, you alright?" Layla called.

I bent down and tossed my coat over the brace, picking both up and setting them on the side of the sink. "Yeah, I'm fine."

I heard footsteps padding toward the door. "You sure? Sounds like you dropped something heav-" Magenta's voice cut off as the bathroom door swung open.

Hm. Guess I didn't close it all the way. I whipped around toward the opening door. There wasn't any time to get my coat back on, plus then I'd have to explain the brace. But I couldn't let them see me like this!

I felt a rush of heat on my back, and the door opened fully. "Sorry." Magenta apologized. "Didn't mean to scare you."

I blinked. Why wasn't she saying anything about my wings? Why was she so calm? Could Warren or Will have told her? "It's okay." I said.

Magenta smirked at me. "Get changed already. You've been in here for like five minutes." She teased, shutting the door.

I swallowed, hard. What was that about? Then I turned around and realized why Maj hadn't said anything.

My wings weren't there. Now was the time to panic. But before I could, a wave of blue flame rolled off my back and with it came my wings.

That was new… and kind of freaky. I closed my eyes. Another rush of heat, and when I opened them, no wings. I reached up behind my back with one arm, running fingers over my shoulders. My completely and totally wingless shoulders.

Ho. Ly. Crap.

I decided to just get changed into my pajamas and not look in the mirror anymore.

24981257120

"About time, pokey." Magenta said as Alexa came out of her bathroom in an oversized T-shirt and plaid flannel pants.

"Sorry." She said, dropping the bundle of clothes in her hands on top of her bag before going back to sit on the bed.

"Okay, since we've totally exhausted the movies for tonight, who wants to talk?" Layla asked.

"Sounds good to me." Magenta said. Alexa shrugged.

It didn't take long for either Layla or Magenta to realize that something was up with Alexa, who kept spacing out. Magenta grinned. "So, Alexa, how long have you had a crush on Warren?"

The blonde shrugged. "I dunno, only for a little whi-" She stopped suddenly, her face turning crimson. She groaned and buried it in her hands. "Oh, God, please tell me I didn't just say that out loud…" She moaned into her palms.

"I knew it." Magenta laughed.

Layla shoved Magenta. "That was mean."

Alexa looked up at the two sitting across from her. "Is it that obvious?"

Layla bit her lip. "Well…"

"Not unless you were looking for it." Magenta finished. "None of the guys have figured it out. Then again they didn't see you flirting with him at the park earlier."

Alexa looked like she'd been slapped. "I wasn't- we weren't- we were just talking!"

"Oh, calm down." Magenta said, waving off her panic. "It's not like you're the only girl in Sky High who has a crush on Warren Peace."

"A lot of girls actually do like him." Layla said helpfully. "They're just all too scared to go near him." Alexa laughed a little at that. Layla smiled. "If it helps, we think he kinda likes you back."

"Wh-what?"

Magenta nodded. "Warren's pretty overprotective of me and Layla, but never enough to try and flame broil a guy for copping a feel."

Alexa looked away, her cheeks still red. "Yeah, but that could've just been that it was Lash."

"Ah, but do you remember what happened before that? When Speed accused you of being his girlfriend? He didn't deny it. I think he actually got offended when Lash said that he wasn't 'great taste.'"

"And he picked up your stuff for you." Layla said.

"That doesn't mean anything." Alexa protested.

"Maybe not to you, but that's the most attention we've ever seen Warren give a girl." Magenta said. "He and Celia weren't even all that social with each other."

"I'm sure he does the same thing for you guys."

"Not really." Layla said.

Magenta grinned again, somewhat mischievously. "Hey, I bet we could get the guys to find out for us."

"No!" Alexa immediately protested.

"Why not? Don't you wanna know?"

She bit her lip. "Well… sort of, but…"

"How can you 'sort of' want to know?" Magenta questioned.

Layla put a hand on the shape shifter's shoulder. "Maj…"

"It's more of I don't want to know if he DOESN'T like me." Alexa said. "I don't mix well with the whole relationship thing. I found out my last boyfriend cheated on me with a junior two weeks before Valentine's Day."

Even Magenta winced. "Ouch."

"How long had you been going out?" Layla questioned.

"Almost eight months." She said rather dolefully. "He broke up with me not ten minutes later, after I confronted him about it; said he needed someone more _mature_." She smirked rather evilly- it almost reminded Magenta and Layla of Warren. "He had to move soon after though."

"Why?"

"Hm? Oh. He almost blew up the science lab." She said casually, examining her nails. "Overheated an experiment."

"You didn't." Layla gasped. Alexa looked up from her nails to focus her gaze on the redhead, looking totally innocent, but oh-so-obviously-guilty-and-loving-it at the same time.

Magenta laughed. "Sweet."

Layla shook her head. "You two are as bad as the boys." She muttered. "But I can see why you wouldn't want Warren to find out."

"Hey, we don't have to let Warren actually find out to ask him." Magenta pointed out. "We'll just get Will to do it. Five bucks they're all over at his place right now anyway."

Layla nodded, grabbing her cell phone off of Magenta's bedside table. "I can call him right now." She offered. Alexa still looked wary, but nodded. Layla used speed-dial before she could change her mind.

4035836734068

Will flipped open his phone happily as he saw who was calling. "Hey Layla. What's up?"

"_Is Warren in the room?_"

"Uh, no. He's upstairs. Why?"

Will could swear that Layla had the evilest little grin on her face as the next words came out of her mouth. "_How would you feel about doing me a favor?_"

"How big a favor?" Will asked. Zach and Ethan had now looked up from their video game, curious.

"_Not too big..._"

"_Layla, just get on with it before Alexa changes her mind!_" Magenta hissed in the background.

"What are you three up to?"

There was a momentary pause. "_I want you to find out how Warren feels about Alexa._"

Will blinked, looked at the phone, and put it back to his ear. "You... want me to what?! Do you want Warren to barbeque me?"

"_Pleeeeeaaaase, Will?_" Layla begged, dragging it out into a plaintative whine.

He groaned. "Okay. Fine, I'll try to. But if I don't show up for school on Monday..."

"_I'll be sure to kick Warren's butt for you._" She assured him. "_I love you Will._"

"Love you too." He sighed, hanging up.

"What'd Layla want?" Zach asked.

Will looked over his shoulder up the stairs. No sign of his flame-throwing friend yet. He leant forward toward Ethan and Zach nonetheless. "She wants me to find out if Warren likes Alexa."

Zach's eyebrows rose. "Woah. As in, _like_ likes?"

"Why?" Ethan asked.

"I don't know, but-" All three looked up as heavy footsteps started down the stairs. Warren raised an eyebrow as all of his friends scrambled back to their seats, trying to look as innocent as possible.

Which, of course, made Warren highly suspicious. "Did I miss something?"

"Nope." Will said casually. Warren sat back down in his spot, promptly grabbing his controller and, with barely a glance, sniped Zach's character.

"What the- dude, not cool!"

Warren shrugged. "You snooze, you lose, Glowstick. Come and find me if it's bothering you." He said, coolly shooting Will in the back of the head. He growled, tapping his fingers impatiently, waiting to re-spawn.

As his screen came back online, he was suddenly struck with an idea. He glanced over at Warren, who was trying to get a lock on Ethan's Ghost. "Hey, any of you know when the tickets for the winter formal go on sale?"

"This Tuesday." Warren replied, watching Ethan take down Zach with a smirk. Popsicle got to live for a little longer…

Zach elbowed Ethan, trying to break his concentration. "Hey, back off! No babysitting!" The luminous boy said.

"I'm not babysitting, just following." Ethan retorted, hitting the fire button, barely missing Zach's head.

Zach smirked. "So, you gonna ask that girl in First Aid to the dance, Ethan?"

Ethan's dark face grew darker, and Zach managed to knock him off his ghost. "You got a crush on someone, popsicle?" Warren asked. Ethan just blushed more and shoved Zach.

"Her name's Gabrielle." Zach supplied, fending off Ethan's attempts to shut him up. "She can turn into diamond."

"And she's a sidekick?"

"One word, dude: Boomer." Warren acknowledged this with a nod.

Will glanced over at Warren. "Hey, War, you gonna ask anyone?"

Warren gave Will a 'you're kidding me, right' look. "Who the hell would I ask?"

"You could ask Alexa." Zach suggested. Will smacked his forehead.

However, he couldn't help looking when Ethan said, "Warren, your face is scarlet." Will had to disagree; it was more crimson. But that wasn't the point. Warren Peace was _blushing_.

"Warren," Will started slowly, still fearing the possibility of Warren flambéing him, "You wouldn't happen to… _like_ Alexa, would you?"

"_What_?!" Warren yelped. "I've known her for, like, two months!"

Will cocked an eyebrow, pausing their game of HALO. "Warren, calm down. I just asked. But, by the way you're freaking out, I'm starting to think you do."

"Hey, none of us are knocking you. Alexa's cute." Zach said.

Warren glared at the back of Zach's white-blonde head. "Uh, Warren?" Ethan asked. "You're glaring."

The glare shifted, and Ethan grew silent. "Sorry." Warren muttered and shifted slightly, looking down at the floor.

Will put a hand on Warren's shoulder, grateful that it wasn't burned off when he did. "Look, Warren, you're allowed to like girls. It would kind of creep me out if you didn't."

"No 'flaming' jokes." The pyro warned.

"Right, got it." Will said. "But, I mean, you are allowed to date still. Celia has a new boyfriend." Warren rolled his eyes. "Warren, come on. What can it hurt?"

"My pride, maybe?"

Will bit his lip. "Okay, listen, you cannot, absolutely can NOT tell Layla and Maj I told you this, but… Layla called me a few minutes ago and asked me to find out how you feel about Alexa."

"Hippie did _**what**_?"

"Yeeaaahhh… sorry 'bout that."

"See? That totally means she likes you." Zach said, waggling his eyebrows.

"Shut it, Glowstick." Warren growled.

"You could ask her when we go to the mall tomorrow." Ethan suggested. Warren didn't say anything, just reached over to Will's controller, promptly unpaused the game, and shot Ethan off of his Ghost.

**123957293457**

"Go 'way, Layla." Alexa grumbled into her pillow. "It's too early!"

"It's almost ten!"

Magenta brought her face up from her pillow just slightly so she could glare at her red-haired friend. "It's _Sunday_, Layla."

"Yeah, and we're supposed to meet the guys at the mall in two hours." Layla said, hands on her hips. No verbal reply came, but two pillows were thrown at her head. Huffing annoyedly, Layla turned to the window and shoved it open.

"Alright, we're up, we're up!" Alexa yelled, being held in the air by her ankle by a vine that had snaked through the window. Magenta was in a similar position. "Now put us down!"

Layla smiled and the vine promptly dropped the two on the bed and retreated out the window. "Your mom made cinnamon rolls." She told Magenta as she walked out of the room.

Alexa looked over at Magenta. "Any chance we can safely go back to sleep?"

"Not unless you want to be attacked by my mom's hydrangeas." The shape-shifter sighed. "Come on, let's go."

"Well, good morning sleepyheads." Magenta's mother greeted as Alexa and Magenta tossed themselves into the unoccupied chairs at the kitchen table. "Anything to drink? Coffee? Milk?"

"Milk's good." Alexa said, taking the glass. Magenta bolted for the coffee pot.

"Mm, caffeine." She sighed, taking a careful sip. "So good."

"Not a morning person?" Alexa asked, taking a bite of her cinnamon roll. Magenta stuck her tongue out at the girl, but quickly dug into her breakfast.

Layla grinned, laughing behind her hand. "Maj, frosting alert." The dark-haired girl grabbed a napkin and wiped the dripping, sugary substance off her chin.

"You three going to the mall later?"

"Yes ma'am." Layla answered.

"Well, don't get in too much trouble. Oh, and remember your key, Magenta. Your father and I are working late tonight."

"Got it." Magenta replied, finishing off her roll. "Better go get ready." She sighed. "God forbid we be late."

--

"I'm not so sure about this." Warren muttered.

Will almost glared at his best friend. "Warren, we talked about this for three hours last night. Either you ask Alexa to the formal, or we'll ask her for you."

Warren nearly cringed at the thought. "Okay, okay. I get it. I'll ask her."

"Hey, here come the girls." Zach said, pointing at the mall doors. The three girls were walking in, laughing about something. Warren and Will's eyes widened as they saw Alexa, trench coat and wingless.

"Alright, we're here. Let's go." Magenta said.

"Where to first?" Ethan asked, completely oblivious to the total 'WTF?' looks on Warren and Will's faces. Alexa, however, was not.

"I'll explain later." She whispered. They nodded, turning back to their arguing friends. Eventually, Layla won out, and they headed toward the clothing stores.

--

Alexa groaned as Layla went into the dressing rooms for a fourth time. She, Magenta, and Warren were sitting on benches outside the store that the rest of their friends were shopping in. She caught Warren's eye and, grinning, made a gun out of her fingers and put it to the side of her head. She jerked it like she'd pulled the trigger, her head lolling to the side.

Warren laughed and peered inside, making sure that Layla was busy with her clothes. When he saw that she was, he made a motion like he was tying a rope around his neck, then held his hand up, "hanging" himself. Magenta joined in on the fun by grabbing a stray hairpin out of her hair and dragging the blunt end across her wrists.

"What are you three doing out here?" Will asked from the store's entrance. He was as guilty as Layla was of ducking in and out of the dressing rooms, as were Zach and Ethan.

"Nothing." Alexa giggled. Will rolled his eyes and went into an empty room. Warren and Magenta grinned, getting up. "What're you guys…?"

"Ditching. C'mon." Warren said, jerking his head toward the elevator.

Alexa got up and caught up with them. "You guys do this often?"

"Only every time we come to the mall." He shrugged. Alexa quickly saw their destination draw near, and she laughed.

"Sanctuary!" Magenta cried dramatically, running inside Hot Topic's doors.

Warren shook his head, following her inside, Alexa following him. The cashier waved at the pyro. "Hey, Warren."

To Alexa's surprise, Warren nodded his acknowledgment. "Hey, Neil. Got anything new?"

"Nothing you'd like." The man replied. His hair fell down to his mid-back in a long braid, and red eyes (obviously contacts) glanced over at Alexa. "Who's your friend?"

"Alexa." She introduced herself before turning to the boy next to her. "When I said often, I didn't mean on first name terms with the employees." She teased.

Neil laughed. "I see that she's experienced the effects of shopping with your friends." In response, Alexa made the "shooting" gesture again.

"Yeah." Warren answered, chuckling.

"Ooh, Alexa, come look at this!" Magenta called. The blonde ran to the back of the store.

Neil smirked at Warren. "So, have a thing for blondes, do we?"

"We're not dating." Warren protested.

"But you want to be." He laughed. "You're turning red, that's cute."

Warren leant up against the counter. "You know, I don't have a problem going back to juvy for assault."

The older man chuckled, rapping a hand against his chest. A low, metallic ring answered. "Try me, kid."

"You suck." Warren replied.

"You asking her out?" Neil asked, changing the subject.

"Why do you need to know?"

He shrugged. "Call it a friend's interest. You need a new girlfriend."

Warren curtly flipped him off before he walked back to where Magenta and Alexa were looking at accessories. Alexa was laughing at the wrist band that she was holding. "I should so give this to Carson."

Warren peered over her shoulder. "'I declare a dance war.'" He read aloud, making both girls jump. "Your sister dance?"

"Yeah, actually. Why do you find it so entertaining to sneak up on me all the time?"

"It's not my fault you don't listen."

Magenta's gaze flickered between the two of them for a moment before she sighed. "I'm gonna go look at the shirts up front." She said, stepping between them and walking to the front.

"That was subtle." Alexa murmured.

"What?" Warren asked.

"Nothing."

Warren looked down at her. "So what happened to your…?"

Alexa looked up toward the front of the store, then, in hushed tones, explained to Warren what had happened when Magenta surprised her.

"So you can just make them disappear?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. I haven't really tried much. Makes my life easier, though."

"I'd expect."

"There you three are!"

Warren grimaced. "Busted." He muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets and walking to the front of the store where Layla was waiting, arms crossed, with the three boys behind her.

--

So our escape attempt didn't work as well as we'd hoped; we got our ears lectured off by Layla for about ten minutes before Will's grumbling stomach finally interrupted. The rest of the day was fairly less confrontational, as Warren, Magenta, and I were finally allowed to go to the stores we wanted (this included a trip back to Hot Topic for Maj).

"Cute jacket." Layla commented. I looked it over, then checked the price tag and whistled.

"Cute, but not thirty bucks cute." I said, hanging it up.

Zach looked over at me. "I thought you were, like, loaded."

"No, my dad is." I said remorsefully. "Me and Carson gotta earn our cash like everyone else. Until I get a job, I don't have a steady supply of money to spend." I declined to mention the 'emergencies only' credit card tucked in my wallet. "I don't think I even _have_ thirty bucks."

Maj smirked. "Maybe Warren could get you a job at the Lantern."

"He'd regret it. Spending more than eight hours at a time with me is, and I'm quoting my sister here, 'insanity provoking.'" I said, air quotes and all.

"I don't know, after hanging out with these guys, there isn't much my sanity can't take." Warren said, walking up with Will. He'd given Will an even shorter rundown of my summary to him earlier about my wings. Will swiped at his arm, which Warren easily dodged.

"Hey, don't break anything." Neil called. "That includes bones." We all laughed at that one as Will just looked sheepish.

It was probably one of the best weekends I'd had… ever. My dad and Carson were thrilled to find out about my new power, as was I the next day when school started.

Well, sort of.

"Is it just me, or are people staring?" I asked. Layla smiled.

"It's a new look for you."

"Yeah, plus now that you ditched the coat, you have a figure." Magenta added. My face flushed. "You want us to wait for you?" She asked, referring to the books in my hands. Sky High had a good library, what can I say?

"Nah, go to lunch. I'll catch up." They both nodded and headed down the hall as I headed down another to my locker. I'd just managed to get it open when I heard a familiar chuckle behind me.

"You know, you look even better without the coat, Lexi." My grip on my locker door tightened and I glared over my shoulder. Lash was standing behind me.

"Do you have a death wish or are you really just this stupid?"

He smirked at me. I didn't know what was so funny, because I was fully ready to live up to my threat back at the park. "What are you going to do? We're in the middle of the school."

I was sure my eyes were black by now, because I could feel a dull heat forming in my hands. I shoved my books into my locker and whipped around on him. "You think I care?"

"Your dad's a big time lawyer, right?" He asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Why, you need one?" I snapped, slamming my locker shut and starting toward the cafeteria.

"Hey, Hale!" Against my better instincts, I stopped and turned. "I just have to ask… what is he to you? A pet project? Trying to make him change his ways?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I demanded. Normally, I would refrain from cussing in school, but as it was Lash and there weren't any teachers around, I'd make an exception.

"Peace." He said. "I mean, why else would you even hang out with him? You two are at opposite ends of the economic spectrum. He's trash compared to you."

My nails were biting little red crescents into my palms. "You shut up about Warren."

He laughed. "Aw, you actually do like Peace. Cute. Too bad for you that he's a jerk and you don't have a chance. Besides," He smirked, "Dating him would make you realize how low-down he is and dump anyway."

Mistake #1: Lash had tried to goad me into fighting him.

Mistake #2: I'd been dumb enough to stop and let him instead of going to lunch instead.

Mistake #3 would've been when I charged at him, fists blazing. But be damned if it didn't look cool when my fist hit his cheek and I sent his head twirling on his elastic little neck like a top. Not so cool when he unwound his head and punched me back.

I didn't know Boomer and Medulla were coming down the hall until Boomer pulled me off of Lash, flaming arms and all. "Hale! Power down!" Slowly, and rather reluctantly, the flames died from my arms. Medulla pulled Lash off the floor. "Who started this?" Neither of us spoke, we were too busy glaring at each other. "I asked a question, I expect an answer!"

"I threw the first punch." I said finally. Boomer looked rather shocked. "But Lash started it."

And with that said, we were, ahem, "escorted" down to Principal Powers's office.

--

SC: Okay, bad place to end, but this was getting long and rambly, so it is now a two-part chapter. 'Clash, part 2' will be chapter 7. And trust me, this fight is only leading up to something even worse… no, it's not Alexa getting grounded. Just wait and see. Read and review please!

Ja ne

SC


	7. Clash, part 2

SC: Woo, people are still reading! I promise, this is actually going to start progressing soon… I think. I seem to be saying that a lot lately, don't I?

Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High, blah, blah, blah. You get the point, right?

--

Chapter 7

Clash the Second

I almost wanted Principal Powers to put us both in detention; I wouldn't mind being stuck in a room with no adult supervision with Lash for around five hours, because let's face it- the boy's useless without his powers. I could deal with that. Unfortunately, Principal Powers thought of that (probably because of that last incident with Warren), and I got detention alone, and Lash would be serving his tomorrow.

As the door to the room closed behind me, I yanked out my phone and snapped a picture of my face. I grimaced when I looked at it. There was a cut on my cheek, courtesy of Lash's class ring (cauterized that as fast as I could), and I had several bruises elsewhere on my face- no black eyes though, which was a feat, considering I was sure I'd gotten at least one. I saved it to my photos, considering that most of them would probably be gone by the time I got out of here.

About twenty minutes later, my phone rang. "Hello?"

"_What the hell did you do to Lash?"_ It was Magenta. I glanced at the time. Gym had just started, so she was probably in the locker room.

"You need to ask?"

"_Yeah, actually. There are so many rumors flying around that I kinda need to hear it from you."_

"Simply? He crossed my line, and I beat the shit out of him with fists of fiery fury."

Magenta laughed. _"And it seems today's alliteration will be brought to you today by the letter 'F'. Seriously though, the boys are out for blood."_

I smirked. "Oh, I got plenty of that. Did I bust his nose? I distinctly remember a cracking noise and must know."

"_He's got wadded tissues stuffed up his nostrils."_

I laughed. "Sweet. You know, I shouldn't be so happy about this."

"_Don't sweat it; you aren't really part of the group until you've faced down with one of those jerks or saved the school."_

"Does this mean I have to pay dues now?" I asked. Magenta laughed. I could hear Layla in the background telling her to hurry up and finish changing. "You'd better go. Tell Warren and Will NOT to kill Lash, okay? I don't need them dealing with my issues. Oh, and I'm sending you a picture, so silencio tu telefono."

"_As soon as you stop speaking Spanish."_

"Oui, mademoiselle." I giggled, hanging up. I quickly sent the photo to her and snapped my phone shut. I laughed at her text back (which contained a few very choice words I care not to repeat, along with a threat to tell Warren), and assured her I was fine, I would look better before she saw me again, and told her to get Warren or Will to get my homework for me (if I asked Layla, all I'd get was another lecture… no thank you, I'll pass on that one).

True to my word, I did look SO much better when I got out of detention after the final bell. The cut was practically gone, and the bruises had mostly vanished. I wasn't in as good a mood, though, as I had missed the bus and therefore had to wait for everyone else to leave before I could… well… leave my way.

Also unfortunately, I wasn't the only one who'd missed the bus.

Warren Peace was waiting for me on the steps outside.

Which, actually, wasn't as surprising as it should've been, as I'd gotten a text from Will not an hour earlier saying that he had something to ask me('him' meaning Warren, not Will). I assumed it was something about the fight with Lash. "You know, missing the bus isn't exactly smart." I commented, drawing his attention.

"Neither is getting into a fist fight in the middle of a hallway." He replied.

"Hypocrite."

"Touché." Warren conceded. "So… just what happened that made you go postal on Lash, anyway?"

"_What is he to you? A pet project?"_ I could feel the pure, livid anger from earlier boiling back up in my chest.

"I don't want to talk about it." I practically growled.

"Did he do something?" It was sort of touching how Warren's tone changed from curious to 'I'll kill the bastard' with a few words, but I wasn't in the mood for chivalry at the moment.

"Other than punching me?" I asked sarcastically. "Look, I said I don't want to talk about it."

Warren grabbed my arm as I walked past him. "Well from what you did to Lash's face, I'd say you need to."

"Fine, I'll hire a therapist." I snapped, yanking myself free. The anger that I oh-so-needed to direct at Lash (or a good round of HALO) was being slowly directed toward Warren. Hence why I was making it priority number one to get away from him and go home. But Warren seemed to be perfectly content in blocking me from doing so. Physically.

"What's wrong with you?" He demanded.

Damn it. "I don't know, maybe I just don't like standing around listening to some half-assed convict talk smack about one of the few really good friends I happen to have! Maybe I couldn't just _standthere_ and listen while Lash stood right in front of me and compared you to _trash_!"

Warren stayed quiet for a moment while I glared down at the ground in front of me, my shoulders heaving from my little explosion. "You don't need to defend me." He said finally, and rather moodily at that.

_Seriously_? My gaze switched from the ground to his face. As Warren had probably, oh, a good two to four inches on me, I doubt my glaring at him was very intimidating. "Well, I am SO sorry. Next time I'll call you and let you do it yourself!" I moved to walk around him, but was stopped by his arm shooting out in front of me.

"Why are you getting such an attitude about this?"

I seriously think my jaw dropped. "Why am I…? _I'm_ getting an attitude? I'm sorry, I thought you'd be glad to hear that I was defending you! Friends do that kind of stuff!"

Remember that two or three inches I mentioned Warren had on me a second ago? Well, he used it to his full advantage as he glowered down at me. Ooh, scary Warren… if I hadn't been too pissed off to be scared. Hell hath no fury and all that good stuff. "I don't need _your_ help to defend_ my_ rep." He growled. Smoke was now rising off of his shoulders and arms. Oh, this was getting fun now.

"I wasn't defending your so-called 'rep,' Warren, I was defending you! Your rep, by the way, which is pointless. Have you seen who you're hanging out with?" I asked.

Warren looked like I'd smacked him, but then the glower returned, and his fist raised like he was going to punch me. I took a step back, more out of pure, horrified shock than actual fear. He seemed to come back to his senses then and looked from me to his raised a hand before lowering it.

Oh great, I was crying now. Still mad as hell though.

"Warren… you… you are the most self-absorbed, heartless jackass I have ever met!" Not true, as I'd just had that brief encounter with Lash, but it made me feel a little better.

Probably not my best choice of words though. By the amount of smoke coming off of him, I'd have sworn Warren was about three nanoseconds away from powering up on me as he glared at me with so much… _hate_. "At least I'm not a snotty, spoiled little bitch who hasn't ever had to work to get anything in her great life because daddy does everything for her!"

My heart stopped dead in my chest, and I was suddenly feeling very, very cold. Oh, but Warren wasn't done yet. "Well guess what? You've finally fucked up and lost something in your perfect little life!"

I wanted to say something back; something hurtful and mean and cruel, but I just couldn't manage it. Instead, tears flowing freely down my cheeks, I turned on my heel and headed toward the edge of the school. "This is what I get for trusting a fortune cookie." I said as my wings reappeared and I stepped over the edge of the school.

--

Carson looked up from her sandwich as the front door slammed open. "Alexa?" She called, walking into the living room just in time to catch a glimpse of her sister running up the stairs. "Alexa?!" She ran after her sister, freezing halfway up the steps when she heard glass shattering. She scrambled up the last few to find her older sister's door shut and locked. She tugged on the knob fruitlessly, jumping as she heard an even louder crash. "Alexa, what are you doing?!" She got no answer except sobbing.

She looked to the ceiling. "Ray, can you manually override Alexa's lock?"

There was a whirring sound, and out of nowhere a voice replied, "Negative. It would be too dangerous to allow you into Alexa's room at this moment, Carson."

Carson growled at the computer system. "Well… can you call Layla for me?"

"Of course." Carson ran down the hall to her room and grabbed the phone off the hook. It was already ringing.

"_Hello?"_

"Layla, it's Carson."

"_Hey, sweetheart. What's wrong? You sound upset."_

Carson looked down the hall in the direction of Alexa's room. It was quiet now, save the occasional stifled sob. "I- I'm not really sure. Alexa came home and she was really upset and she's locked herself in her room and she broke something earlier… I think… I think something may have happened with Warren… can you and Magenta come over here?"

"_Of course. We'll be there in a few minutes."_ The redhead assured her before hanging up.

It was precisely seven minutes, fifty-four seconds later that the two girls came running up the driveway to the Hale house. "First door on your right." Carson said. They bolted up the stairs.

Layla tried the knob gingerly. It turned, and the door swung open. "Oh wow…" Magenta said behind her as they stepped into the room. A bookshelf on the far side had been toppled to the floor, its contents scattered over the floor or trapped underneath it. Magenta took a step forward and heard glass crunch underneath her boot, and lifted it. The souvenir picture of the group of them that they'd gotten taken at the theme park had been ripped to pieces, its frame shattered on the floor. Alexa was curled up in the middle of her bed, back to the door, her entire frame shaking with sobs. Layla moved over to the bed while Magenta bent down to relocate the harmful shards to a safer place, like the desktop.

"Alexa?" Layla asked, reaching out to touch the blonde slowly. A wave of blue fire appeared between her fingers and Alexa's shoulder, and she drew them back. "Alexa… what happened?" She shook her head, a fresh wave of tears coming over her. Layla sat down on the edge of the bed, Magenta joining her a moment later.

"Something happened with Warren, didn't it?" Magenta asked gently. Alexa nodded.

"We… we got in a fight…" She choked.

Layla reached out and drew her into a hug. Alexa turned and sobbed into her friend's shoulder. "Tell us what happened."

Out came the shaky details. By the time Alexa had finished, the sobs had abated slightly, and she had managed to sit up on her own. "Thank god for school teleporters." Magenta murmured.

"That's really bad, even for Warren." Layla said. "I mean, he hasn't done anything like that… not even when he was fighting Will."

"He tried to fry Will." Magenta pointed out. "Heck, I'm surprised that he didn't power up on you just from being angry."

Layla nodded. "Yeah. Normally, once Warren gets made, his flames are in automatic on."

Alexa shook her head. "I can't believe I liked him. Ugh, I still do! How desperate am I?" She moaned, resting her head against her knees. Layla hugged her again.

"You're not. It just… hurts, that's all."

The blonde laughed bitterly. "You know, my fortune cookie was right." Layla and Magenta looked confused. Alexa raised her head, smirking almost maliciously. "It said, 'someone close to you will be aiming for your heart.' Well, Warren was aiming all right- to break it." She covered her face with her hands. "I've known him for two months! It shouldn't feel this bad! I didn't feel this bad breaking up with Keith, and I'm not even going out with Warren."

Magenta and Layla looked at each other, not really knowing what to say. "Sorry, Alexa." Magenta said finally.

She shook her head. "It's not your fault. And I appreciate it guys, but I really want to be alone right now."

Layla nodded, hugging her one final time before getting up. "Alright. Call us if you need anything, anything at all."

"Including a bat to smash Warren's head in with. Either one." Alexa managed to laugh at that. Layla pulled her door shut behind her, and Alexa watched as they went back down her driveway. Layla waved at her one last time, and she managed a rather pathetic one back before the two girls disappeared around the corner.

Alexa laid back down on her bed, hugging a rather plush, worn out looking teddy bear to her chest. "Ray, lock my door please." There was a 'click' and Alexa closed her eyes.

--

Melissa Peace was in the middle of a cheap horror-mystery novel when the front door slammed, demanding her attention. "Warren?" She called. Her son stormed through the living room, flames licking over his arms, heading toward the stairs. She jumped out of her chair, her book discarded to the floor. "Warren, what's wrong?" She asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. She was glad that Barron hadn't been his only pyrokinetic parent…

He shrugged her off. "Nothing."

She forced him around, giving him a good look of her 'yeah, right' expression. "Right. And I don't know my own son."

The flames dimmed slightly before flickering out completely. "I… don't want to talk about it." He muttered, looking away.

"You sure?" He nodded. Melissa smiled at him. "Okay. But if you change your mind…"

"I know, mom." He said, looking back at her finally. She gave him a wry look and a quick hug before retreating back to her chair. Warren went up the staircase and into his room, shutting the door. Shrugging his jacket off, he tossed it on the back of his desk chair before sitting down on the edge of his bed. He slammed a fist into the mattress. He looked down at his arms, which were still smoking slightly, and sighed. "Shit." He muttered, standing up and heading out of his room.

--

"Damn it all to hell." Warren growled as he sat down on the edge of his bed, letting his head fall into his hands, which still pulsed with heat. He really, really wished that he was brave enough to go downstairs, because he could use some good advice from his mother. But he was a guy, and (by unspoken rule) guys did NOT go to their moms for girl trouble.

What had he been _thinking_ when he'd snapped at Alexa like that? She'd defended him because she was trying to be nice, and he'd blown up at her, almost literally. He couldn't blame her for calling him any of the things she did; looking back on his behavior earlier, he had to admit he sure seemed like it. He'd even blown off Will and the others when they'd found him storming through the streets, almost ablaze.

And yet that wasn't as bad as what she'd said under her breath as she walked away. _That_ little statement had stuck in his mind for the rest of the day. He sighed, hoping that they would be able to get around that when he talked to her again. _If_ she would even talk to him again.

Before that, though, he owed her a HUGE apology for losing his temper. Warren cringed at the memory he'd been trying NOT to think of for the past two hours. He couldn't believe he'd come so close to losing control and hurting one of his friends, especially one he'd planned on asking out ten minutes earlier. He was almost positive about what this meant for his chances with Alexa, and it wasn't good.

For the moment, though, he really needed to make that apology. Grabbing his jacket off his chair, he expertly popped the screen out of his window and climbed out onto the roof.

--

Carson looked up as someone knocked on the door of the Hale household. She paused her game of HALO, typing in the code to disable the alarm. Opening it, she was surprised to see Warren Peace standing outside. "Hey Carson." He greeted quietly. "Is Alexa here?"

Carson bit her lip. "I've… been ordered to not tell you anything, except that she doesn't want to talk to you. Sorry, Warren."

He sighed. "Figured as much. Just tell her I stopped by, okay?" Carson nodded and watched as Warren walked down the driveway, then shut the door.

--

Alexa watched through her blinds as Warren walked down the sidewalk, away from the house, before letting them close and falling back on her bed. She finally manages to stop crying, and then he's got the nerve to show up at her house. She looked over as her cell phone started vibrating on her desk. Wiping her eyes on her sleeve, she got up and picked up the phone, flipping it open.

'_1 new text message from Warren.'_

She glared at the alert and then snapped her cell shut, slamming it back on her desk before she even read the message. She managed to last fifteen minutes before grabbing it and opening the text.

'_I know you're pissed at me, but come meet me in the park. Please. _

_Warren.'_

She lasted another nine before she was climbing out her bedroom window.

--

When Warren saw Alexa walking up the sidewalk toward him, his first thought was that someone up there must like him. A lot. A _hell _of a lot. She stopped a few feet away, her violet eyes surveying the scene before her. Warren was sitting on a bench near the park entrance, hunched over with his hands folded together in his lap and his foot tapping somewhat impatiently… or maybe nervously. She stood behind the fence, that as well as distance separating them.

"Hey." He said, straightening up.

"Hey." She responded, her arms wrapped somewhat protectively around her middle. Even in the dark, Warren could see that she'd been crying, and could hear how raw her voice sounded.

"I'm surprised you came." He said finally.

"Join the club." She responded bitterly.

Warren closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. Might as well get it over with. "I know it's not enough, but I just wanted to say I'm sorry that I overreacted. And I'm really, really sorry I go so angry with you." That was obviously the end of what he had to say as he looked back down at the ground. He looked up again as Alexa sat down next to him.

"I think that there's blame to be shared here." She said softly. "This was partially my fault too. You weren't the only one who overreacted. I… I said some things I shouldn't have too. You're not self-absorbed, and you're not heartless." She paused. "And I was acting like a bitch."

"Yeah, but only because I was being an asshole. I can understand why you said what you did. And I didn't mean it when I called you a…"

"Snotty, spoiled bitch?" She supplied.

"Yeah. That." He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "Anyway, the main thing is, I wanted to apologize for losing my temper and blowing up on you."

"_Almost_ blowing up on me." She corrected.

He looked over at her. "It was close enough, and that was too close."

"But you didn't." She repeated. She bit her lip, pausing before she continued. "Layla and Magenta came to talk to me. They said that was angrier than they'd ever seen or heard about you getting- and they've seen you get pretty mad- but you didn't actually power up on me."

"Alexa, I was_ smoking_. And I almost _hit_ you!"

"You still didn't."

"Well, what if I do next time?"

Alexa held up a hand to stop him. "Okay, first off, I'm not exactly planning to have that big a standoff with you like that _ever_ again. Besides, I'm fireproof, what do you have to worry about? And I'm tougher than I look. Beat the snot out of Lash, didn't I?"

Warren just shook his head slightly and said nothing. Alexa shifted closer to Warren on the bench and put a hand on his shoulder. "C'mon, War, would you stop emoing? Look, I'm not holding any grudges." He finally turned to look back at her, and Alexa smiled slightly. Warren sighed and managed to smile back.

They sat like that in silence for a few minutes, neither really sure what to say, but not wanting to get up and leave. "Um... hey, Warren?" Alexa asked suddenly.

"Hm?"

She looked over at him cautiously, turning her head slightly. "When I was in detention… Will texted me and told me you wanted to ask me something. What was it?"

Warren was glad it was dark, because Alexa couldn't see him blushing. "I... it was nothing important."

"Oh, come on Warren. Don't make me go ask Will." She warned, only half-serious.

If Warren didn't know any better, he would've sworn he was powering up right then, hot as his face was getting. "I was going to ask you to the winter formal."

"You... you were?"

Warren looked away, obviously embarrassed. "Yeah."

Alexa felt her face flush, from pleasure, though, not embarrassment. She looked over at Warren from the corner of her eye. "You know," She started cautiously, "You could... still... ask me."

Warren turned to Alexa, surprised. Her head was bent, and a curtain of blonde hair hid her probably crimson face. "Alexa?"

She reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear and looked up at him. "Will you go to the dance with me?"

She smiled. "Definitely."

Warren grinned, and Alexa couldn't help smiling back, then laughed as Warren jumped when her little finger brushed over the back of his hand lightly. She stopped when she felt his hand wrap around hers, weaving his warm fingers through hers, and she looked up at him. "Warren…?" She stopped again as she caught Warren looking at her as his face moved closer to hers, and she closed her eyes. Warm lips pressed against hers, softly and lightly. Nothing forceful or hard, and it ended quickly; but it was enough to bring a blush to Alexa's face so hot that it made her wonder what fire really felt like.

She stopped wondering as Warren kissed her again.

--

"You didn't have to walk me home." Alexa murmured, looking over at Warren. He shrugged, smiling over at her slightly.

"I know. But I wanted to." They both stopped as they reached the end of her driveway. "I'll see you at school?" He asked, releasing her hand.

Alexa laughed quietly. "Well, I had been planning on playing sick and skipping, but… yeah, I'll be there."

"Hey!" They both looked up at the second story. Carson was leaning out her window. "Would you get in here already? Dad's gonna be home soon!"

"Keep your shorts on." Alexa replied. She turned back to Warren and leant up to press her lips against his for a quick kiss. "Later."

"Bye." Warren turned and walked down the street. Alexa watched him for a minute before scaling the tree behind her and climbing across the roof to her sister's open window.

"Why'd you close yours?"

Alexa rolled her eyes. "Um, because it's cold out and I didn't want a bunch of leaves all over my floor."

"Guess you aren't mad at Warren anymore." Carson promptly found one of her own pillows thrown in her face as Alexa walked out of her room.

"Oh, wow." Alexa said as she looked over the damage she'd done to her room. She headed over to the bookshelf first. Her attempts to replace it didn't get far, as she couldn't lift it more than a few inches off the ground. "Carson!"

"What?" Her sister demanded, peering into her room. Carson blinked. "Whoa."

"Yeah, I know. Help me with this? I can't let dad see my room." Carson sighed and made her way to the other side of the stubborn piece of furniture. The two girl managed to lift it and set it back in its rightful place against the wall.

"You sure made a mess." Carson commented, kneeling down to help pick up the books that had been scattered and put them back on the shelves. "Am I gonna be this hormonal when I'm your age?"

Alexa rolled her eyes. "It's not hormones, it's high school. Just, in general. The drama's kind of a package deal."

"I think I'll live without this kind of drama." Carson said. "I mean, you came home swearing you'd never speak to and slash or see Warren again, and you were making out in the driveway with him ten minutes ago."

"We weren't making out." Alexa defended, blushing. The door downstairs opened.

"Girls, I'm home."

Carson stood up, brushing off her knees. "Better go tell him you're going to the formal." She said, smiling. "Before I do."

"Carson!" Alexa lunged after her sister as she ran out the door.

There was going to be a death in the family…

--

SC: Okay, so, two chapters in one day. And yes, I realize that was a rather violent fight, verbally, at least, and that it was pretty quick recovery time. But, as they're both rather reasonable teenagers, it would make sense that they cooled down after some time apart. Besides, I really did NOT want to write more than one chapter of them fighting. Besides, this moves plot along. Review please!

Ja ne

SC


	8. Rumors

Chapter 8

Rumors

"Well, you're in a good mood." Layla commented as Alexa took her usual seat across the aisle from them. "I take it you and Warren made up?"

"That obvious?"

"You can't stop smiling." Will said. "He ask you to the formal?"

Alexa gave him a wry look. "Yes, he did, so you don't have to ask for him."

"He told you about that?"

"Uh-huh." Alexa said. "And that you guys suck at playing matchmaker."

Magenta shrugged, grinning. "Hey, it worked didn't it?"

"Yes, and now maybe you guys will lay off my personal life." Alexa smiled and scooted over as Warren sat down next to her.

"You're going to kill Carson." She told him.

Warren looked over at her, an eyebrow raised. "Why, exactly, am I going to kill your sister?"

"She spilled to my dad about you taking me to formal, and he had a conniption fit." She laughed. "If I'm allowed out of the house again before I graduate, it'll be a miracle."

"Wow." Magenta said. "Your dad is harsh."

Alexa waved it off. "I'll talk some sense into once I get home. He'll see reason and lift punishment. I know how to argue myself out of something. I'm just lucky he didn't come home five minutes earlier and see my room…"

"What was wrong with your room?" Warren asked.

Alexa bit her lip. "I… kinda overturned my bookshelf and trashed that picture of us at the park."

"Wow."

"Okay, so why's Alexa trashing her room?"

Aforementioned girl grinned. "Nate! You're looking less green today."

He laughed. "Yeah… sorry about ditching you guys on the mall thing. And yesterday."

Will shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I couldn't fly straight for hours after that stupid ride."

Warren chuckled. "It was still pretty funny when you crashed into that lamppost…"

"And the tree." Zach added.

"And the-"

Will held up his hands. "Okay, I think they get it!" The others laughed.

Ethan turned to Nate. "You missed it though. Alexa beat the snot out of Lash."

"What? Why? Did you take pictures?" Alexa laughed.

"Because he was being an asshole and overstepped like every boundary I had. I didn't live up to my promise though. He's still got all his limbs."

Magenta grinned, handing Nate her cell phone. "And yes, I took pictures." He grimaced at most, laughing at the same time.

"Jeez, Alexa." He paused at the one of her face. "Ouch."

She shrugged. "Pyros heal fast. Ooh, that was the other reason my dad had a total fit last night. Principal Powers called him."

"Other reason? What was the first one?" Nate asked, still flipping through pictures.

"Apparently, Carson spilled that Warren was taking her to the formal before Alexa could tell him." Layla said. Nate looked up at the two, blinking.

"'Bout time." He said finally, handing Magenta her phone back.

"Oh you are so lucky Warren's sitting on the outside." Alexa warned him. Nate just laughed.

--

The whispers flew as Warren Peace and Alexa Hale walked down the hall, shoulders touching and fingers woven together. "Gotta love high school." Alexa muttered as she walked into Ms. Summers's room, taking her seat over by the windows. Warren, instead of sitting at the stool behind the podium, stole into the seat behind her.

"Joining the class today are we, Warren?" Ms. Summers asked teasingly. He shrugged, and Alexa covered her mouth with a hand to stifle her giggles. "Don't make me separate you two." She warned. Alexa blushed as Warren smirked. "Alright. Today we'll be working on projections. I hope everyone did their homework."

Alexa bit her lip. She knew that there was something she was forgetting this weekend… oh well.

--

"Okay, what's so funny?" Magenta asked as they climbed into the stands for gym.

Alexa bit back a giggle. "We were doing projections in first period- um, making shapes and objects with our powers- and Warren was being mean. His bird ate my butterfly." She paused, grinned. "Then my cat killed his bird."

"Violently." Warren said, looping an arm around Alexa's shoulders as she sat down next to him.

"You started it." She reminded him, before promptly groaning at the whispers that started up. "I hate high school." She declared into her palms, as her face was now in her hands.

"Heard the rumors, huh?" Ethan asked.

Warren smirked. "That depends; which ones?" His friends all looked at each other. "I kinda like the one where I'm holding her family hostage to make her go out with me." There was a giggle from Alexa at that one.

Nate grimaced. "You think that's bad? People have been asking us if you've been hypnotized or something."

Magenta laughed. "I heard one about Alexa being the new Gwen Grayson and trying to recruit villains-to-be."

"I guess Warren would be the most likely candidate there." Will said. "Oh, and speaking of that, wanna hear the new ones about why you beat the crap out of Lash?"

Alexa looked up. "Okay, I've gotta hear this."

"Well there's one that's going around with that last one saying you were trying to recruit him and he said no."

"What, I can't just beat the guy up because he's a total prick and I hate his guts?" She asked, looking down on the current match of Save the Citizen.

Layla bit her lip. "I got one worse."

Alexa barely glanced over. "Do tell, I'm writing all of these down when I get home."

"You're really not gonna like it… the reason you beat up Lash is because you were seeing him behind Warren's back and Lash threatened to tell Warren, so you beat him up to keep him quiet."

NOW Alexa looked over. "Okay, who told you that, because I'm going to kill them."

Warren chuckled. "Guess we're lucky no one saw us fighting after school yesterday."

"Stronghold, Peace, you're up!" Boomer yelled, interrupting their conversation.

"Have fun." Alexa said. Warren smirked as he and Will climbed out of the stands.

--

"Got a new one." Ethan said as he sat down at the lunch table. "You two are eloping to Bavaria."

Alexa and Warren looked at each other. "Bavaria?" Alexa asked.

Zach shrugged. "I didn't even know there was a place called Bavaria."

"Big surprise there." Warren muttered. Zach threw his spoon at him, to which Warren retaliated with a fork.

"Alright, quit before someone gets an eye poked out, more than likely Zach." Magenta said. Her boyfriend glared at her, and she shrugged. "Warren has better aim." They all laughed as Zach pouted. Will stopped rather abruptly, looking at something coming through the cafeteria doors.

"Will?" Layla asked, touching his arm. She followed his gaze and gasped. "You've got to be kidding me."

Warren frowned and turned around to see, and Alexa felt his body temperature rise. "I probably shouldn't turn look, should I?" Will shook his head. Slowly, she glanced over her shoulder, and her eyes widened. Lash was walking through the doors with Speed and Penny. A few rather choice words tumbled out past Alexa's lips.

"I thought he had detention today." Zach said.

Alexa growled. "Principal Powers probably just gave him a half day like I had."

"Just ignore him." Layla said. "It's not worth you guys getting detention again."

Nate grinned. "Besides, I think looking at what Alexa did to Lash's face is worth it."

Alexa turned a little more fully, then grinned. "I did break his nose! Sweet."

"Normally, I'd be totally against this, but…" Layla grinned. "_So_ worth it." They had to fight off laughter as Lash looked over at them, victory written clear on his face. Warren smirked, wrapping his arm around Alexa's waist. The smug smirk on his face changed drastically as his jaw dropped before he turned away, steaming.

"You know, I think he might've actually liked you." Magenta said. "Because if that doesn't say 'I'm going to kill Peace because I'm insanely jealous,' I don't know what does."

Alexa smirked. "I don't date jerks."

"Then why are you going out with Warren?" Will asked. Warren held up a fist threateningly.

She laughed. "Because he's a jerk who'll admit when he was being one." She said, hugging Warren while simultaneously pulling his fist down.

Warren shrugged. "Works for me."

--

"Today was just _ridiculous_." I sighed, working on my 'History of the Hero' homework. "I mean really, beyond-all-relief _ridiculous_."

"That bad, huh?" Carson asked, biting into a chocolate chip cookie.

I quirked an eyebrow. "What don't you get about 'beyond-all-belief ridiculous'? High school is just a rumor mill, and they just kept getting crazier and crazier." I said, flipping through the book I'd gotten from the library on Greek Gods. "By the way, apparently you're being held hostage in Warren's basement with a massive death ray being pointed at your head."

Carson choked. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." I replied.

Carson shook her head. "And this is what I'm waiting to get into?"

"Warren just has a really bad rep, that's all." I explained lamely.

"I don't see what the big deal is, Warren's cool!"

I smiled. "Car, the Warren _you _see and the one he is at school are like two totally different people." I paused. "Well, not really, it's just that everyone at school's too afraid of him to try making friends."

"Mm." She said, sipping her soda. "What're you gonna do about daddy?"

I shrugged. "I dunno, just talk some sense into him, I guess. Remind him that Warren is NOT Keith, and that I'm a big girl and he has no right to keep me from going out on dates and that he totally overreacted last night."

Carson crinkled her nose. "I never did like Keith."

"Yeah, you were right on the nose about him." I said. "I mean, I couldn't even hug him without him trying to cop a feel. Ugh, he didn't even try and stop his friends when they did it, either."

Carson cackled. "Yeah, and Warren fries anyone who even thinks about it."

"Exactly. Besides, he'd never do that to me. Despite the bad ass appearance, he's really sweet."

"Well, that's a pretty compelling argument." I leapt two feet out of my chair as my father's voice issued from the kitchen doorway.

"Dad! When did you get home?"

He smiled at me. "Oh, at about 'talk some sense into him.' And you're right, I did overreact a little last night."

"A little?" Carson and I asked in unison.

"Okay, a lot." He conceded. "God forbid the two of you ever become lawyers…" We just grinned.

"Does that mean I can go to the formal?" I asked hopefully. My father nodded, sighing. I hugged him. "Thanks, dad!"

He hugged me back. "You're welcome, Lexi." I winced at the nickname, but I let it go and turned back to my homework. I didn't even get back to the table before my cell phone started singing Nickleback's 'If Everyone Cared.' I pulled it out and opened it. "Hey Layla. What's up?"

"_Just seeing if you were up for a boy-free trip to the mall for formal dresses._"

"Uno momento." I said, moving the phone to my shoulder. "Daddy… can I go to the mall with Layla and Magenta?"

"Are you done with your homework?" I looked over at the book lying on the table.

"I will be by the time Layla gets here." He sighed and nodded.

I grinned and moved the phone back. "Yes, but go pick Maj up first."

Layla laughed; obviously, she'd heard my conversation with my father. "_Alright, see you in a bit._"

--

"I mean, is it really such a big deal? I mean, okay, I get that it's _Warren_, and that it's weird for people to see him as part of a couple, but am I that much different from Celia?" I said, leaning up against the wall.

"Technically, yeah. But I don't think that anyone expected Warren and Celia to last, you know?" Magenta said. "They were good friends, but they weren't really a couple, like you guys are."

The conversatino was cut short as the dressing room door opened. "Well?" Layla asked. The dress she was wearing was a sleeveless sweep of emerald satin, gathered tight around her waist and pouring into folds from her hips to the floor.

I sighed. "It's gorgeous, Layla. Just like the last three."

Layla scoffed. "But that doesn't help me any!"

"Just get it, you know you want to." Magenta said. "You've been staring at it since we walked in." Layla flushed and walked back into the room, returning in her regular clothes, the last dress draped over her arm. "Well?"

"… I'm getting this one."

I laughed. "Your turn Maj." She sighed and grabbed her two dresses and stalked into the room. She walked out a moment later.

"Okay, how bad is it?"

Layla and I bit our lips. Magenta looked like a rather sullen, shimmery party favor in purple taffeta and black sequins. "Well… it's not that bad." Layla said. Magenta turned to me.

"You look like a party favor in combat boots." I said bluntly, as I knew that was what she wanted.

"Thank you." She said walking back in. She came back out in a black and violet corset tank top with a knee-length black skirt with a violet, fishnet overskirt covering the back.

"Ooh, I like it." I said. "It's very you." Layla gave her a double thumbs-up. Magenta quickly changed out of the dress and sat down in the chair next to me.

"So, do we have a dress for little miss picky?"

I grimaced. "One."

"Well, try it on!" Maj ordered.

"Besides, if you don't like it, there are like two other dress stores to go to." Layla reminded me. Magenta and I shot each other a pained glance and I walked into the dressing room.

I pulled my shirt off, replacing it with the dress, before I looked in the full length mirror on the wall. It was a white dress with a light, barely noticeable lavender sheen, but it made my eyes seem an even darker shade of violet than they already were. The wide sleeves barely hugged the edge of my shoulders, and the hem reached the floor easily. There was a slit up the right side I wasn't too sure about, but I could probably just sew it, so no biggie. My shorts made the dress bulge a little weirdly around the top of my legs, but otherwise it looked okay. "Okay, I'm coming out." I called, opening the door.

"Wow." Magenta said. "See, if I could pull that off without having to kill everyone to save my reputation, I would."

"You look really pretty, Alexa." Layla said.

I smiled. "If it saves us from another dress store…"

Layla shook her head, muttering something about impossible. Magenta just laughed.

x.X.x

"Well, there goes my allowance for the next couple months." Magenta said we walked down the tiled path.

"I don't remember the last time I went shopping for stuff like this." I laughed. "So, we've got dresses and shoes. We don't need anything else, right?"

"I don't think so." Layla said. "Besides, we've still got a while until the dance, so even if we do…"

She stopped as my cell started blaring Warren's ring tone. "He has the worst timing, I swear." I mumbled, switching one bag into my other hand and digging my phone out of my pocket. "Hey, War, what's up?"

"_Wondering if you were free for tonight._"

I couldn't keep the grin off my face, and I turned away from my friends to hide it, leaning up against the steel and glass paneling separating me from a painful fall to the mall's first floor. "Really? And why's that?"

"_I don't have work, and I was going to take you to see that new horror movie that just came out._"

I laughed. "Ooh yay, zombies. Sounds romantic. I'm kinda busy right now though."

"_Really? Because it looks like you just got done shopping with Layla and Magenta and aren't doing much of anything except talking to me._" I straightened up, scanning the crowd below.

"What's up?" Magenta asked, walking over.

I moved the speaker away from my mouth. "Warren's here." The words hardly left my mouth when I spotted him, sitting on the edge of the fountain in the center of the floor below us. I moved the phone back. "You are so busted." I said, clicking the phone shut and heading toward the escalator.

He met the three of us at the bottom. "You didn't have to hang up on me."

"You were spying on us." I accused.

"I wasn't spying. I called your house, and Carson told me you were here. I was waiting."

I heard a unanimous, "Aww," from Layla and Maj. I turned on them. "Will you two go wait over there or something?" I asked/demanded, pointing to the fountain. They rolled their eyes and walked off, but I could've sworn I heard Magenta making kissy noises.

Warren, however, was chuckling. "Vengeance will be hers."

It took me a moment to realize what he was talking about. "You teased her mercilessly when she and Zach started dating, didn't you?" He nodded. "Smart one."

He rolled his eyes. "So, movie?"

I grimaced. "I can't. My dad would flip, it's a school night. Any chance I can get a rain check until this weekend?"

"Will Friday work? I'm working Saturday and Sunday." I nodded. "Friday it is then."

I started walking back over to Layla and Maj, very aware of Warren following me, even more so when he grabbed my hand. They were smirking; I was going to kill them. And, because Magenta is a SADISTIC little shape shifter, she quickly asked before either of us could speak, "Hey, Warren, do you need a lift home? My mom won't mind."

I didn't even have to look to see the smirk on his face. "Sure. Better than walking."

So, we found Magenta's mom and all clambered into the mini-van (Magenta has three younger sibs, so it's useful.), with Magenta up front, Layla in one of the middle seats, our bags in the other, and me and Warren in back. Unfortunately, my house was the first stop.

"Wait, let me get this straight; Magenta actually volunteered to go dress shopping without destroying anything or threatening to rain painful death and doom upon a certain someone's head?"

"I needed a new dress." She defended. "Besides, doesn't that old saying go misery loves company, or something?"

"Yeah; she's misery, I'm company." I shot back from my rather comfy position lying on Warren's shoulder. Magenta covertly flipped me off from the side of the seat her mom couldn't see.

"What am I, then?" Layla asked.

"Layla, you actually like dress shopping; you don't count." I said, drawing my legs up when she attempted to swat me.

Magenta's mom laughed. "Alright, this is your stop, Alexa."

"Aw, okay." I pouted. I unbuckled, kissed Warren's cheek in a hasty goodbye, grabbed my bag, and managed to make it out of the van before Layla could hit me. As I shut the door, I heard Warren and Maj laughing.

"Have fun?" Carson asked as I walked in.

"Dad's not home, is he?" She shook her head. "That's why you sent Warren to the mall."

"Yep."

"Normally, I'd be mad at you. But, I have a date on Friday, so I think I'll let it slide."

Carson grinned. "Sweet. Warren's my ticket out of punishment."

"Don't push it." I warned, going upstairs.

"What, you're not even going to show me your dress?" Carson called. I shut my door in reply (rather loudly, so she could hear it) before I went over to my desk drawer and grabbed my access card and scooted down to the lair. "Ray, keep her out of my room!" I called as I swiped the card and stepped through to Sky Penitentiary.

"Hey Alexa- whoa, what happened?" I laughed and did a little twirl.

"You like the look?"

Robbie blinked. "What happened to your wings?" I quickly gave him a demonstration by bringing them back. "That's handy."

"I know. Now, as much as I enjoy talking to you, I'm here to see my mom." He nodded and pulled out the scanner and the bracelet. Once I'd proved that I was indeed myself, and let the bracelet get clipped on, I rushed into the room.

"This was unexpected." My mom said, sitting down across from me.

I shrugged. "I had free time, so I thought I'd come visit."

She smiled, leaning her chin on her folded hands. "I take it we have good news?" I blinked. "You can't stop smiling, dear."

"I have good news and better news."

"Mm, good news first. I need it in small doses." I laughed before explaining my cool new talents involving certain feathery protrusions of my physical form.

"I wish I could show you, but this stupid bracelet won't let me." I complained, waving my adorned wrist.

"I think I like the original version, sweetie, but I'm glad you won't have to wear that horrible brace anymore."

"Same here." I agreed.

Mom smiled. "Okay, so what's the better news?"

My smile grew. "I'm going to the winter formal."

"Really?" She asked, totally interested. My mother acted like such a teenager sometimes. "With someone, I'd hope." I nodded. "Who?"

"Guess." I ordered.

She tapped her chin. "Hm, let's see… it can't be Will or Zach… Ethan?"

"No."

"Nate?"

"I think he'd die if he tried to ask me."

"Not that horrible Lash boy!"

"No, no, and, again, NO, most definitely not Lash!" I said, disgusted, waving my hands. "Here, I'll give you a hint: his name sounds eerily close to a rather popular Russian novel…"

Her eyes widened. "Warren Peace?" I nodded. "No way."

"Yep. I've got a dress and everything. It's pretty. I'll send you picture."

"If you can get Warren to hold still long enough to get him in one, I'd like one of both of you. Make it two, actually, I'll give one to Barron."

I paused. "You guys are close, huh?"

"Uh-huh. We were friends in High School, along with your father, Melissa Peace, and Steve and Josie."

That freaked me a bit. "Wait- The Commander and Barron Battle were friends?"

"Best friends. Weird, huh?" She laughed. "Oh, we used to have so much fun. Your father and Josie used to have diving contests off the school."

"Dad did that? _Mrs. Stronghold_ did that?" It was hard for me to picture. Whenever I pictured Josie Stronghold, I saw the realtor or Jetstream- not some teenager diving over the edge of the school and playing chicken to see who would pull up first or hit the ground with my straight-edge dad. She just… didn't seem the type. Neither did my dad, but I've come to learn that my parents are crazy.

"Yep. Used to scare the crap out of Melissa and Steve. Barron and I would take bets." She smiled. "It was a rather tangled web- I was Steve's lab partner, he was Barron's best friend. Your father and Barron got paired up in Save the Citizen for a while, he and Melissa were dating, and Josie and Melissa were friends. One day, we all just sort of wound up at the same table at lunch…" This was starting to sound eerily familiar. "Actually, it was sort of my fault. I had lost my notes, so I went over to ask Steve if he had them. He was sitting with Barron and, well… things just escalated from there."

I leant my elbows on the table top. "Well, that was… disturbingly familiar sounding."

"It's high school, sweetheart. Not much changes." My mom chuckled. "It was fun, though."

"Sounds like it." I said. "Oh, I almost forgot; you should hear some of the _rumors_ going around about me and Warren."

"Oh, this I've got to hear."

"Where to start… oh, I know…"

--

SC: Gah! Another filler chapter… sorry! Oh well, I was having fun with the rumors. It was interesting trying to gauge what Sky High's student body would act like when they found out Warren had a girlfriend again. I thought it would be pretty extreme, even the second time around. I had the best time picturing their reactions to Celia… anyway, sorry for the filler again, but I'm going to try and move it along next chapter. Read and review please!

Ja ne

SC


	9. Insert witty title preview here

SC: Wee! Don't we all just love filler crap? Okay, I'm about to do something really predictable with the plot here, and I think everyone's going to kill me, but oh well. It is my plot, and I have my reasons.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High, any comic book heroes I may mention, or 'Dreaming of You' by Selena.

--

Chapter 9

(Insert Witty Title Here)

"That was disgusting." Alexa said, shaking her head as she entered the movie theater's lobby.

"It wasn't that bad." Warren chuckled behind her, his hands in his jacket pockets.

She gave him an annoyed look. "That's because you're male and don't get as easily disgusted as us delicate females."

He chuckled and moved one of his arms around her shoulders. "Okay, yeah, it _was_ completely gross when they shoved the stick of dynamite down the guy's throat and blew him up."

"I was talking more about the insane detail they put into the flying intestines." Alexa said, obviously appeased. "Great way to start out the movie though."

"Yeah, half the theater left right then." He winced as Alexa dug her elbow into his ribs. "Hey, watch it."

"That did not hurt. You don't whine when Will hits you, and I know he has got to hit a hell of a lot harder than me."

"Oh, darn, guess I'm busted." He sighed, as though he actually cared.

Alexa rolled her eyes. "C'mon, jerk. I gotta get home."

--

Warren insisted on walking me home- he did have his license but his mom had the car. Not that I minded or anything. It was slower, and therefore I got an extra fifteen minutes out of it. I couldn't help giggling, though, every time Warren scowled at the guys who would glance over at us. I probably didn't look like the type of girl Warren Peace should've had his arm around.

Hence, I hadn't stopped giggling in about five minutes, because we were drawing a LOT of stares. "Warren, stop it." I ordered finally.

"Stop what?"

"Glaring at everyone." As if I needed to clarify. "You're just making it worse."

He looked away from me. "I can't help it. It's a guy thing. WILL does it."

I tried to picture Will glaring- at anyone- and burst out laughing again. "Sorry." I apologized. "It's sweet, but I just think it's silly."

He did try, though, I could tell. It was a lot easier once we got about five minutes from my house and there were almost no people. By then, it was dark, and the sky was lit up with stars.

Something else I'd learned about Warren: He had no problems with PDA, as long as there wasn't anyone else around to see us. Which is why the possessive arm around my shoulder had moved, and we were holding hands instead.

"My stop." I said as we reached my house. I turned to Warren, slipping my hand out of his. "See you on Monday."

He smirked. "Yeah, if I survive this weekend. Double shifts tomorrow AND Sunday."

I grimaced. "Ooh. Sorry." He smiled at me and leant down to give me a quick kiss (I think we were both afraid of my dad watching from the window) before I walked down my driveway.

"He was watching you the entire way inside." Carson said from the couch- she was reading, for once, and not playing video games. I peeked out the window to see that, indeed, Warren had only just started walking down the street, and I couldn't help smiling.

"Is daddy home?"

"Nope." Well, that made the smile droop a little. "How was the movie?"

"Bloody, gory, insanely terrifying, I had to kick Warren when he laughed at me for jumping…" I listed, ticking each off on my fingers.

Carson chuckled. "Ouch."

"Oh please. He can get punched through two walls and get up. Me kicking him in the shin will cause no irreversible damage."

She laughed at that, and I started up the stairs. "Hey, wait a sec!"

I paused, peering around the wall. "Yes, o great small one?"

"I want to make a deal with you- Layla and Maj are coming over here to get ready for formal, right?"

"Yeah, we're using the teleporter instead of the buses. Why?"

"I will do your hair, and Layla's, and Magenta's if she'll let me, IF and only if you let me see your dress."

I blinked. "This is killing you, isn't it?"

"YES." I sighed and made the 'follow me' motion. Carson squealed and ran up the stairs. I sighed, shaking my head, and walked up after her.

My little sister was so weird.

--

"Okay, I have to admit- I am impressed." Magenta said as Carson styled my hair in front of her vanity mirror.

"I don't know how she does it." I admitted. "I can't get my hair to do anything, and she can get it to do whatever the hell she wants."

"It's because I ice over the hairspray. Makes it stay put longer." Carson gave my hair a reproving twitch. "There, all done." She said, finally letting me look in the mirror. She had pulled my hair into a tucked-in bun that was resting against my neck, with a few purposely placed flyaway strands framing my face, and it looked great. Layla had allowed Carson to straighten her hair, and it hung loose down her back. Not all that surprisingly, though, Maj had opted to leave hers in its usual buns.

I stood up, pleased to be done. We went downstairs together, Carson trailing behind us, where my dad was waiting. He smiled at me. "You look great, Lexi."

I ignored the nickname. "I promise, I'll be home before midnight. And no Cinderella jokes!" I called over my shoulder as we moved into the kitchen. I felt around under the kitchen table until my hand pressed against the seamless panel hidden in the wood. A tingle went through it as it scanned for my fingerprints, DNA, etc., before the table slid away (along with the floor underneath it) to reveal the slower and less fun way of getting into my dad's lair- the elevator.

It only took a minute to reach the teleporter's floor, and I quickly swiped my school ID card through and stepped forward into the light, stepping out into the gym. The gym was decorated nicely with streamers and helium-filled balloons. Several spotlights were pointed at a very seventies disco ball hanging from the ceiling, sending dots of white light spinning around the room, mirroring the effect of snow closely.

"I don't see the boys anywhere." Magenta sighed, looking around the already semi-crowded gym.

"They're probably waiting on Will." I teased. Layla swiped at me- I dodged behind Maj, laughing.

"Do I look like a shield to you?"

"If I say yes, are you going to hit me?"

"I'm going to hit you either way if you don't get out from behind me." I scooted away, letting Layla smack me on the arm. I rubbed it to humor her. "Does your dad know that the dance ends at eleven thirty?"

"Nope." I chuckled. "I neglected to mention that to him or Carson."

There was an overdramatic gasp from Layla's direction. "Alexa!"

"What?" I asked innocently. "Like either of you would pass up an extra half hour with Will or Zach." Their silence answered me. "That's what I thought, hypocrites. Now let's go find them."

It didn't take long for us to spot the boys coming in through the gym doors, and I felt myself just _stop_ for a second.

Holy shit, Warren Peace looked really good in a tux. Of course, he couldn't wear it properly- the jacket wasn't buttoned, he didn't have a bowtie, etc-, oh no, not Warren.. And somehow that only made it all the better looking.

Magenta's subtle elbow in my side snapped me out of my staring as she and Layla walked past me to go greet the guys. I shook my head and followed after them. Well, I'd had my moment of regression to a thirteen year old. "We beat you." Layla teased as she threw her arms around Will's neck. He didn't even stumble as he caught her, hugging her back and laughing slightly as he did.

"I didn't realize we were racing." He said, pulling back to kiss her cheek.

"Why don't we move away from the doors before you two start getting mushy?" Magenta suggested, making both aforementioned parties blush and pull away from each other.

"Says she who got caught making out in the girl's room." I muttered under my breath. This time it was Will and Layla laughing as Zach and Maj blushed, my purple-streaked friend going for my throat. I, being a chicken and not wanting to be strangled, hid behind Warren.

"Alright, why don't we get out of the doorway before Maj kills Alexa in front of the entire student body?" Warren suggested, pulling me out from behind him via his arm that was suddenly around my waist, and we did manage to get to the other side of the gym without Magenta attempting to murder me again.

"Hey, guys!" Nate waved at us over from the refreshment table.

"Hey, Nate." I greeted after we'd maneuvered over. "What's up?"

He frowned. "Wanted to give you fair warning- Lash and Speed showed up about fifteen minutes before you guys did."

"You'd think they'd have been banned from the dances after homecoming last year." Ethan muttered, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

"Our luck isn't that good." Warren muttered. "Any chance I could flame them without Principal Powers noticing?"

"Warren…" Layla said warningly.

"What?" He questioned, completely innocent. "It's not like I was the only one thinking it."

"I was throwing cheese cubes at them earlier. With my _mind_." Nate said, making us all laugh.

"Let's just ignore them- we've done it before, we can do it again." I suggested. That brought agreements all around, and we went to do what normal teenagers did at formal: dance.

Well, most of us, anyway. Zach, who apparently has a far more stubborn need to dance than I, managed to wheedle Maj onto the floor with him. I, however, was not even bringing it up with Warren. Instead, I was talking to Nate, who had come stag.

"Why aren't you dancing?"

I gave him a wry look. "I'm not going to pull a Zach and bother Warren until he caves- trust me, it'd take too long."

"What was the point of coming to formal with him if he's not going to dance with you?"

"Do you want to dance with me?"

"I have the grace and poise of a blind, deaf cat... with three legs... wearing silk slippers... on ice... with seizures. I'm not going anywhere near that floor while there's music playing." Nate said, waving his hands. I laughed.

"You're exaggerating."

"I kid you not. Telekinesis cannot help me, I am that bad." We both looked up as the upbeat pop song changed to something a lot slower- I actually recognized it as 'Dreaming of You' after a few lines. Nate grinned as he looked at something over my shoulder before abruptly standing up and walking away.

I looked over my shoulder to see Warren standing behind me. I stood up almost automatically, and could feel myself smile self-consciously as I took his offered hand and he led me onto the dance floor. His hands hesitantly moved to rest on my waist and I draped my arms around his neck, laying my head on his shoulder.

_Cause I'm dreaming of you tonight_

_Till tomorrow I'll be holding you tight_

_And there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be_

_Than here in my room dreaming about you and me_

I had to bite my lip a little as I heard Warren's heart racing as fast as mine was. It was cute, sorta, that he could face down half of the kids in school, but it was a slow dance that gave him the jitters. And, because I needed to be a little vain, maybe because of me.

_Wonder if you ever see me_

_And I wonder if you know I'm there_

_If you looked in my eyes_

_Would you see what's inside_

_Would you even care?_

I took a deep breath to calm myself down- Warren smelled good, like smoke and smoldering wood- and stop my heart's racing. This shouldn't have been such a big deal- but it was. I had never actually danced with a guy, save my father. And it was Warren. According to what I'd learned from Layla and Maj, Warren dancing was even harder to get to see than Warren dating.

_I just wanna hold you close_

_But so far all I have a dreams of you_

_So I wait for the day_

_And the courage to say how much I love you_

_Yes I do!_

But this… this was nice. It was good. It was almost normal. "War?" I asked quietly, using the closest thing I had to a pet name for him. I felt him start a little; I'd surprised him, that was a first.

"Yeah?"

I took a moment to respond. "I like this." And now I felt like a dork for saying something so entirely cheesy.

Then I felt his breath on my ear and my face flushed as he quietly responded, "I like this too."

_I'll be dreaming of you tonight_

_Till tomorrow I'll be holding you tight_

_And there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be_

_Than here in my room dreaming about you and me_

I lifted my head off his shoulder and looked up at him. For some reason, the fact that Warren had just said that made me insanely giddy and want to do something I probably shouldn't have in a crowded gym. I moved up to kiss him and, instead of pulling away like I'd expected, Warren brought his lips down to meet mine.

Now, we must all remember what I said earlier about Warren: he doesn't like PDA, especially not in front of a good part of the student body.

Not like I was complaining or anything.

The moment our lips touched, alarms went off.

No, seriously, alarms went off. Flashing red lights, sirens, the whole shebang.

_"Code red. Unknown Omega level power detected. Lockdown initiating."_ A computerized voice droned from the speakers in the ceilings.

And panic broke loose.

See, the Hero Council had this sort of system for gauging a super's power level. An Omega class power was enough to destroy the planet. If you _really_ need a description, think Phoenix from X-men or Galactus from Fantastic Four.

Yeah. Hence, the panic. Most of the kids rushed from the gym and into the teleporters, disappearing in groups. Will, Layla, Maj, Zach, Ethan, and Gabriella (who Ethan had finally asked to the dance) ran over to us. "What's going on?" Layla shouted over the din, covering her ears. Ethan shouted something back, but we could hardly hear it.

Then the lights and sirens all suddenly cut, leaving us in darkness and silence. "What happened?"

"The emergency generator's took over. The lockdown must be complete- there's no way out of the school." Ethan explained. We could all see pretty well in the light Zach was giving off. Dim, yellowy lights flickered on overhead, barely giving more light than Zach had been.

I glanced over to the teleporters. There were a few kids left, besides us, but not many. "How long does this last?"

"It depends. It could last all night." Ethan shrugged. He blinked and looked over at Warren. "Hey, Warren, are you okay?" We all turned to look at Warren, who was holding his throat. A small, choked noise came out of his mouth before he collapsed to his knees.

"Warren!" I dropped down next to him, trying to keep him up. I looked up as there was a loud crash to see that Lash- one of the remaining students (goody)- had slammed Nate into a wall and was holding him there by the throat. A fireball formed in my hand. "Lash, drop him or I'll-"

He glared over at me. "C'mon, Hale! Not even you can be that blind! Who's the only kid in the room who could choke Peace without touching him?!"

I heard Warren take in a gulping breath beside me and looked back at him. "Alexa, Lash is right." He said, rubbing his throat.

As Will helped Warren back to his feet, I looked over at the boy pinned to the wall. "Nate?"

Lash screamed and his arm retracted to his side, letting Nate fall to the floor. "He broke my arm!" Lash moaned, cradling the appendage, which was bent at a weird angle, even for Lash.

"We need to get out of here." Will said. "I don't think that he'll be out of it for long." Warren grabbed my shoulders and pulled me to my feet, and we all ran out of the gym.

--

SC: Yes! My plot is finally at its climax! (insert evil laughter)

Puck: You'll have to excuse her, this is the first chance she's had to write in a week.

SC: Yes… curse you, band camp! (shakes fist at sky)

(lightning strikes nearby)

SC: (yelps) Hey! Watch it! I can't play if I'm dead! And we don't have any alternate flutes!

(thunder rumbles)

SC: Yeah, well the same to you!

Puck: Oookay… well, while my idiot master argues with the band gods, I guess I'll do this. Reviews are always welcome, so… hit the button! See? It's down there in the corner… yeah, just press that one.

Ja ne

Puck ((oh, and SC, I guess.))


	10. In this school

0SC: This chapter came really easy, for some reason. Anyway, this is the last chapter of 'Catching Fire'! (sniffle) I'm really glad I kept on with this- it seems pretty popular. BTW, as a bonus, and because I didn't feel that it would make a chapter on its own, there is an epilogue at the end of this chappie! Rejoice!

Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High, blah, blah, blah. I think we get the point by now, right?

--

Chapter 10

'Dance' is Synonymous to 'Showdown'

"Alexa?" Warren touched the blonde's shoulder. "You alright?"

She shook her head. "I am not even close to 'all right' at the moment." The group of them- which now included Lash, Penny, and Speed as well- had taken up residence in the nurses office, mainly to find something to help Lash's broken arm.

Layla, being Layla, was playing nurse. She handed Lash a folded up piece of fabric (ripped courtesy of Will from a blanket on one of the beds in the room). "Bite down on it."

"This is going to hurt, isn't it?"

"She's snapping a bone back in place." Maj said. "What do you think?" Lash glared at her and put the square between his teeth. Layla grabbed the elastic boy's arm and a loud 'snap' sounded throughout the room, followed by a muffled scream from Lash. He spit out the fabric as Layla splinted it.

"Okay, great. Now that we've got Lash all bandaged up, what do we do?" Will asked. "None of us are even close to powerful enough to take down an Omega level telekinetic."

"There's got to be some way to take him out." Speed said.

"Wait, what about that thing in Medulla's lab?" Warren asked. "That ray that shorts out psychic abilities?"

"The Neuro-neutralizer?" Layla asked. "He dismantled it. We don't have enough time to rebuild one. Besides, how would we lug one of those things all the way down to the gym AND get Nate to stand still long enough to shoot it?"

"We could build it." Penny said, looking at Lash. "Mad Science is Lash's best subject, and I'm making an 'A'."

"My arm's busted, I can't build anything." Penny split into two as if to prove her point. "Okay, yeah. But that still leaves the problem of how to get it to the gym."

"Take Will with you." Alexa said. "He can get it down to the gym."

"But that still leaves the whole 'getting Nate to let us shoot him' problem." Zach pointed out.

"But what if we didn't have to shoot _him_? The Neuro-neutralizer uses a laser, right?"

"Yeah." Ethan said. "It fires a beam of compressed particles that scrambles all mental-based abilities in the hero it hits. But how are we going to avoid shooting Nate?"

"Diamonds refract light." She said pointedly looking at Gabrielle.

Her eyes lit up in realization. "If we shoot it at me while I'm powered up, I can aim the beam wherever we need it."

"Yeah, but would it still work?" Warren asked, crossing his arms.

"In theory, it might even make the beam more focused." Ethan said. "But how are we going to stop Nate from just stopping us?"

"By breaking his concentration." Magenta said. "He needs to be able to concentrate to use his telekinesis. That's why he could never use his powers when you morons were picking on him." She said, looking at Lash and Speed.

"Not now, Maj." Warren says. "Okay, you three get down to the lab and get started. Zach, you stay in here with Gabrielle until the neutralizer's ready. We need her out of sight, and you're a little obvious for what we're going to need to do." Zach nodded, obviously understanding. Glowing in the dark didn't exactly equal sneaky. "The rest of us will head down to the gym and keep Nate busy."

2343532453

"He's up." Magenta muttered, peering through the window in the gym's double doors. Nate was floating around the gym, his lips moving quietly. "Ethan, you're going in."

He nodded and melted, oozing under the door. He slid across the floor, reforming behind the controls for the spotlights. This was, thankfully, hidden in Boomer's office. Magenta watched carefully as the lights slowly adjusted themselves over Nate's head. Ethan flashed her a thumbs up from the controls. "Alright, he's good."

"Speed?" Warren asked. There was a rush of wind, and Alexa caught the door so it wouldn't slam as Speed ran inside.

789687

"Okay, connect that wire there and-" Lash, Will, and the three Pennys working in the mad science lab looked up as a crash echoed down the hall.

"I don't think that's good." One of the Pennys said.

"Any way we can make this go faster?" Will questioned.

"Not if you want it to work." Lash responded. "Just go help them, and send the sidekicks down here to help."

"They have names, ya jerk." Will muttered as he ran out of the room.

Once Zach and Gabrielle were safely on their way down to the lab, Will headed toward the gym. He ducked inside and into Boomer's office where Ethan was busy playing with the lights. "How are we doing?"

"Well, so far, we managed to get him dizzy, blind him, and Warren and Alexa are trying to lure him over to the sound system. Magenta rewired it, so it's gonna blast when she turns it on." As if on cue, a screech of unrecognizable noise blared from the other side of the glass window. "Ah, there we go." Will looked up to see Nate stumbling back, hands over his ears. Alexa and Warren were on either side of the speakers, wincing. While he was out of it, Speed smacked into him a couple times, until Nate lifted him off the ground and tossed him into the speakers, cutting off the sound with an electrical gurgle.

Will, being Will, flew through Boomer's window (it was supposed to be shatterproof- ha.) and rammed into Nate from behind.

"What are you doing in here?" Alexa asked.

"I sent Zach and Gabrielle down to help Lash. What was that crash earlier?"

"Nate aims blindly when he's distracted." Warren informed him. Now that Will looked, Alexa's hair had fallen out of its bun, and Warren's jacket had a rip in its sleeve.

"Where's Layla?"

"Outside." They answered at once as vines crashed through one of the windows, picking up a struggling Nate (who was busy tearing them off of him with his hands and powers.) and squeezing. Layla ran back inside.

"Will?"

"Explain later, duck." He ordered, pulling her down to the floor as a tangled mess of green was aimed at their heads. It hit the wall limply instead.

A guinea pig-fied Magenta crawled over next to them. "I just checked on Speed- he's unconscious." She told them, shifting back to human form.

"Perfect." Warren growled. His eyes traveled across the room and he grinned. "Will?"

"What?"

He looked over at the boy. "Cafeteria fight." Will looked up and nodded, rushing across the room. Nate would've turned to him, save the fact that two fireballs came flying at his face.

However, not even Alexa and Warren combined were enough to distract him from the table Will sent flying at his back. Raising a hand, he "caught" the table, throwing it in the general direction of the two pyros. Warren managed to get out of the path, only getting clipped on the side, but Alexa was smacked full force in the chest, flying back through the double doors leading outside, and straight over the edge of the building.

"Alexa!" Layla screamed as the blonde went tumbling. Nate's eyes widened in horror as his mind reached out, too late. His gaze switched to Warren, who was allowing Will to pull him up.

"This is your fault." He hissed, smacking Will away and lifting Warren into the air. The pyro winced as an invisible vice squeezed around his chest, making his bones creak under the strain.

-_Alexa's POV_-

I hadn't expected Nate to actually throw the table at us. Otherwise, I would've ducked or something. Instead, it hit me- hard- in the chest, knocking the wind out of me, and sending my head reeling as I slammed into the double doors. Why was there so much glass in this school? There was barely a moment of resistance before my momentum shattered the glass, sending me flying outside, and the next few yards over the edge of the school.

It didn't really strike me that I was falling until I was suddenly looking UP at the ground. Even then, it took me a second to realize, 'oh crap, this is bad.' My wings unfolded in a wave of fire, and I struggled to right myself. They flared open, and I felt the muscles catch as I was suddenly jerked upward, back up toward the round, white dome that was the bottom of Sky High.

I forced myself not to land- no matter how much my muscles protested- and looked through the window Layla's vines had crashed through earlier. I did not like what I saw. Nate was trying to crush Warren, and by the expression on Warren's face, it was working. Not to mention that he was keeping everyone else pinned to the ground so they couldn't stop him.

Fire crackled around my body as I launched off the windowsill and at Nate's floating form, my shoulder catching his lower back and sending us both toppling to the ground. I scrambled out of the pile first, running over to Warren.

He winced as he tried to sit up, and I wrapped my arm around his back to help. "Are you okay?"

"My ribs hurt." I shook my head as I half-pulled him to his feet. "Shit." He growled, a fireball appearing in his free hand. I turned to see Nate stumbling to his feet.

He glared darkly at us. "Why is it that girls always fall for the bad boys?" He growled, raising a hand.

The gym doors slammed open, and we all looked up. "Back off, jerk!" Gabrielle shouted, already turned to diamond, as Zach aimed and fired the beam at her. Pointing her palms, the beam flew through Gabrielle's body, slamming into Nate. His body slumped slightly before his head raised and he glared at them.

"I will kill you!" He lunged not for Gabrielle, but for Zach (no use strangling a diamond).

I'm not sure who moved first, me or Warren, but the fireballs left our hand nearly at the same time, and did something rather… unexpected. They merged together in mid-flight, forming one rather large, violet fireball that hit Nate right in the back of the neck. An ark of electricity from… _something_ shot through the air, shorting out the lights, while Nate went skidding across the floor.

We all looked around, relieved, as the lights flickered back on at full brightness. _"Omega level threat terminated. Lockdown being lifted."_

There was a unanimous sigh of relief from all of us as we heard locks clicking and barriers raising. "Shit, did that kill him?" Lash asked. Zach walked over- being the closest- and put two fingers on Nate's neck.

"No, he's still breathing- hey, what's this?" Zach asked, pulling something off the back of Nate's neck. I walked over, motioning for it. It looked like a piece of burnt plastic, until I flipped it over. On the other side was a mess of melted circuitry.

"So, Hale…" Lash started behind me. "What's with the wings?"

234342534

"Alexa?" I looked up to see Warren walk out of the gym. I was currently sitting at the edge of the school, my feet dangling over the edge.

"They cleared you already?"

He nodded, sitting down next to me. "Yeah. Nothing's broken, just a few bruised ribs."

I bit my lip. "What about Nate?"

"Whatever that thing was that Zach found on his neck, we fried it." He said. "Medulla managed to salvage some of the memory- that thing was designed to completely fuck up his head. He's not in any trouble."

I let out a sigh. "Good. I knew Nate wasn't evil."

Warren looked over at me. "Did you let the doctors look at you yet?"

"Yeah. I'm fine, I just pulled a couple of muscles in my back, though. They said I shouldn't fly for a while or they might tear." I pushed a piece of hair behind my ear. Warren wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me over to him.

"I guess the secret's out, huh?" He gestured to my wings.

I shrugged. "Yeah. I think I knew that I couldn't hide them forever. It's actually kind of a relief."

"I'm glad your thinking of this so positively." He chuckled. "Oh, and, while I was in there, we also came to the conclusion that either we're cursed, or Lash, Penny, and Speed are."

"Cursed to what? Ruin the school dances?" I laughed. "Guess that means prom is out of the question, huh?"

"It might be in everyone else's best interest." He commented cooly. "But it would keep things interesting."

"We're running out of villains." I lamented. We both glanced over at each other and laughed.

A light cough behind us made us look back. Nate was standing there rather awkwardly. "Warren, could I talk to Alexa?"

"Sure." He kissed my cheek lightly before standing and walking back into the gym.

I stood up, picking up my shoes (which had been laying discarded on the grass beside me) and turning to Nate. "So… are you okay?"

"Well, considering I just tried to murder Warren and destroyed the gym, not to mention ruined the formal…" He sighed. "I feel horrible. I can't apologize to you guys enough."

"Nate, it wasn't your fault." I assured him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "It was that chip."

"All the chip did was manipulate my own emotions. Until it, you know, drove me crazy." He added. "I… I had a crush on you last year. When you moved, I thought I lost my chance, then I came here, and you were here… then you started dating Warren, and, well… I got jealous. That's why I've been acting so weird lately."

"Oh, Nate…" I hugged him.

He returned it lightly, then stepped back. "Um, I better get going. Mr. Medulla wants me to get, just in case. Here," He pressed something into my hand, "I think this'll be more useful to you than me."

I looked down at my palm- it was the shorted out chip. "What d'you mean? What can I do with it?"

Nate looked up at me. "Alexa, I don't think I'm the first hero who's been stuck with these things." We both looked up as Mr. Medulla came outside. "I've gotta go."

"I'll stay out here for a little longer. Go on."

He turned to go, then grabbed my wrist. "Check the reports for you mom's arrest." He whispered before running over to his favorite teacher, letting Medulla take him inside.

I blinked and looked down at my palm again. My mom's arrest? What could this thing have to do with… I inhaled sharply. It couldn't possibly…

"Alexa?" I turned to see Warren standing in the doorway. "You ready to leave?"

I smiled, walking over to him. "Little earlier than I'd planned, but…"

"Well, it's either that, or we help clean up the gym."

"Home it is then." I sighed.

"Actually, we were all going to head to that pizza place and spend the rest of the night playing stupid arcade games."

I couldn't help smiling as I linked my arm through his. "Even better."

-_Two days later_-

"Alexa?" RAY asked as the girl entered her father's lair. "What are you doing down here?"

"I need you to do a search for me."

"Alexa, your father specifically stated that you were not to use me to access the internet again-"

"Look, this isn't so I can get on YouTube, okay?" She snapped, walking over to the main computer console. "It's important. Now open your scanner." A circular panel slid out of the controls, and Alexa set the chip Nate had given her on it. "Commence scan."

A blue light shone from beneath the panel briefly. "Scan complete. Alexa, what is this?" A 3-D image of the chip appeared on the computer screen.

"Something I need to do without dad looking over my shoulder." She responded. "Ray, pull up anything you can find on my mom's arrest- news reports, pictures, articles, anything." The 3-D diagram shrunk down to one corner of the screen as the requested materials filled the screen. "See if you can locate anything that looks like that chip on my mom anywhere in these pictures."

"Commencing search…" Alexa watched as picture after picture was deleted from the screen as a negative.

She sighed, hanging her head. "Should've known it was too good to be true…"

"Alexa, you may want to see this." She glanced up at the screen to see that almost fifteen pictures remained, all with small red circles on them in the exact same spot in different angles. Alexa fell back into her father's chair, a hand over her mouth.

"Oh my god." She whispered, tears streaking down her cheeks.

"Alexa, do you realize what you've done? You've proved your mother innocent. Would you like me to contact your father?"

Alexa took a shaky breath. "No, I'll call him. But first I need you to do one more search for me, Ray…"

"For?" A small smile crept onto Alexa's face as she typed in the name. "Ah, I see. Commencing search…"

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"How long is this going to take?" Magenta groaned.

"A while. I mean, he's pleading their cases with tons of evidence, but…" Layla shrugged.

"The Council are a bunch of stubborn jackasses." Warren finished for her.

"Ugh, it's still off!" Alexa growled as she snapped her cell phone shut, storming back into the room.

"You know how dad is." Carson said, watching as her sister glared at her phone. "He can't have it on in court, and he just forgets to turn it back on."

"Well, you'd think he would've remembered this time, it's kind of important."

"He might not even be done yet." Will reminded her.

She sighed. "Yeah, but this waiting is killing me." She muttered, flopping down on the couch next to Warren.

"You and me both." He muttered, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"You get a hold of you mom?" Zach asked.

Warren nodded. "Yeah, but she's at a business conference in Minnesota. She won't be back until later tonight." He looked down at Alexa. "She loves you already."

Alexa opened her mouth to reply, but jumped instead (along with everyone else in the room) when her cell phone rang. She yanked it out of her pocket and flipped it open, sitting up off of Warren. "Dad?" She paused, the frowned. "Why do you sound- did you win?" She looked at the phone. "He hung up on me. I swear to god, I am going to kick his ass when he gets here."

"Well, I'm guessing that's him." Carson said as a car door shut outside, trembling only slightly- not near as much as her sister- as she got up to open the door. Then she let out a shriek and ran out the door, and suddenly, the couch was empty as Alexa and Warren ran out after her.

What happened next was probably a sight that their friends would remember for a very, very long time- and tease Warren about when it wasn't as much of a touchy subject- as the two of them froze on the step.

Aria hadn't even managed to shut her door before her daughters had both run over, Alexa finally breaking out of her shock, and was busy pulling them both close to her. Alexa pulled away first and, wiping tears off her face, slugged her father's shoulder. "You are such a jerk, dad! God, you made me think you lost, and then you hung up on me!"

"Actually, that was me." Another male voice, definitely not from Elliot Hale, chuckled. "I didn't feel that Elliot needed to prolong the torture." The other car door shut as Barron Battle walked around the car, and smiled at his son. "Hello, Warren."

"Hi, dad." Warren responded thickly, blinking rapidly to hide the fact that, yes, Warren Peace was tearing up. Then someone blinked, and Warren had disappeared off the steps, and Barron Battle was hugging his son.

_1 month later_

"Alexa, door!" Carson yelled from the kitchen.

"I've got it, I've got it." I muttered, getting off the couch. I opened the door to see Will and his parents standing there. "Hey, Will. Hi Mr. and Mrs. Stronghold."

Josie smiled at me. "Hello Alexa."

I smiled back and turned to Mr. Stronghold, who seemed to have brought an entire grill over. "Um, you can just take that out back, Mr. S. Maybe you can help my dad light the dang thing- he's useless without his powers." He just laughed and shifted the box under one arm, heading out back.

"Don't worry, we confiscated his yearbook." Josie assured me.

I heard a laugh behind me. "Funny, I had to hide Elliot's as well." My mom said, putting an arm around my shoulders.

"Carson finally kick you out?" I teased.

"No, I came out to say hi." My mother replied, pinching me.

Mrs. Stronghold frowned. "Aria, you're supposed to be relaxing, this party is for you!"

"We tried to tell her." Carson called from the kitchen. "Man, where's the video camera, dad is making a fool of himself."

"Cell phone." I called.

"Oh, right!" The back door slammed as she presumably ran outside to get a better view.

I heard a sigh from behind Will. "This family…" Will grinned as he turned to hug Layla. She looked up at me and my mom when he let go. "My mom can't make it."

"We know, sweetheart. Heard on the news." My mom replied. "Save the rainforest first, party later. We'll save her some cake."

I finally shrugged my mom's arm off. "Why don't you guys come inside? Zach's trying to beat Maj on Guitar Hero, it's really funny."

"So where's Warren?" Will asked, taking Zach's guitar in an attempt to help him boost his score.

I shrugged. "Not here yet. Contrary to popular belief, I do not know where he is every second of every day."

"You don't?" Zach asked, sounding appalled. I threw a pillow at him as the doorbell rang again. Carson beat me to the door.

"Warren, didn't we tell you just to come in? I mean, Alexa has you over here enough…" I tossed the other couch pillow at her head.

"Silence, midget!" I ordered. "Hey Warren."

"Hey. Why is Will getting his ass handed to him?" He asked, plopping down in the surprisingly unoccupied lazy chair.

"He's not, he's trying to save Zach's." Magenta replied.

"Lost cause."

Zach growled and looked around. "Alexa, you threw all the pillows!" I shrugged.

We all jumped as there was something that sounded like an explosion in the backyard, followed by the sound of a man laughing. "And that would be my father." Warren muttered.

"Dude, Warren's dad just blew up the grill!" Carson howled with laughter from the kitchen.

"Just for the record, that was not, and I repeat, _not_ my fault." Barron Battle protested as he walked through the door. "How much lighter fluid did you put on that thing?"

"Uh…" My father and Will's looked at each other.

"Elliot, what I don't understand is why you didn't just use your powers to light the grill and save everyone the trouble." Melissa Peace asked, walking in behind the charred men.

Now, here's the thing about Warren's mom: she. Is. Gorgeous. And no one ever told me. So, when I first met her, I felt more than a little… below average. I was over it now. Mostly.

"Because he likes to be difficult, Melissa." My mom sighed as she walked inside. "Thankfully, the other grill was spared the explosion, so WE," Here she gestured to herself, Mrs. Stronghold, and Mrs. Peace, "Will go start the grill and get the food cooking. Go clean up." She shooed them up the stairs and headed back outside as the three stooges went- begrudgingly- upstairs.

"Our dads are morons." Will groaned as they disappeared. Warren and I murmured our agreement.

"I heard that!"

All of us looked at each. "So… outside?" Layla suggested. We all scrambled off the couch and headed outside.

56547568478

"I thought we hid it really well this time…" Aria sighed, putting her hand over her eyes.

Josie patted her shoulder. "It was a good try, Aria. He didn't find it until after dinner."

"Mom, what is UP with your hair?" Carson called, leaning over the back of the couch to see the yearbook in her father's lap.

"Carson, up IS her hair." Alexa laughed. "Did you stick your finger in a socket, mom?"

"That was the style!" She protested.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, Mrs. Hale. At least you aren't wearing a unitard and leg warmers. Mom, where did you get this outfit?" Warren asked incredulously.

Melissa blushed. "I was in the aerobics club! Your father took that picture and put it in there without telling me."

Baron laughed. "Oh, I remember that. That camera was brand new, too."

"And yet we managed to save the film." Steve laughed.

"Steven Stronghold, do not make me throw a fireball at you." Melissa warned.

"The whole house is fireproof, Mrs. Peace. Fireball away." Alexa called.

Magenta looked over at her from her spot in Zach's lap. "Your whole house?"

"I had a little problem controlling my temper as a child. Shut up." She muttered, scooting closer to Warren. He chuckled and put an arm around her shoulders.

"You weren't the only one." He whispered reassuringly.

"Warren, that isn't exactly a surprise." Ethan called, ducking as Warren chucked a pillow in his direction, hitting Zach instead. Before an argument could start between them, another argument came up from the three superheroes poring over the yearbook. The words 'lead' 'stolen' and 'Oklahoma' came up more than once.

"Here we go." Will groaned.

Elliot leapt up between the two arguing men. "Steve, Barron! Enough already. It was a musical in _high school_. Get over it." Both parties looked away shamefaced. Elliot looked between the two of them, a smirk growing on his face. "Besides, I think we all know that I would've made a better Curly than both of you."

No one could move from laughing as both the Commander and Barron Battle leapt on the Phoenix.

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Alexa looked up as someone walked outside. "Are they still playing cards?"

"Yep." Warren sat down next to her. "Your dad is a sore winner."

"We don't play games with him anymore." She replied, leaning her head on his shoulder. "This has been a very strange month."

"Yeah, but its been a GOOD strange month."

"Point taken." Alexa sighed. "I wish Nate hadn't transferred back to regular school. I'm gonna miss him."

"Well, after that chip shorted out his telekinesis, it wouldn't have been all that wise." Warren reminded her. "Lash and Speed are back on the prowl."

She groaned. "Can't we just send them back to the hospital for chronic stupidity?"

"No, then we'd have to send Zach too."

"Small price to pay." Warren looked down at the blonde laying on him. Alexa looked back up innocently. "What?"

Warren ran a hand through his hair. "Shit, I am corrupting you."

"You don't know me as well as you think. I'm evil."

Warren paused to consider this, then shrugged slightly. "Maybe that's why I like you so much." Alexa pinched his arm, glaring at him with false anger. "Hey, quit doing that."

"Want me to kiss it and make it better?" Eyebrow raise. Alexa rolled her eyes. "Warren…"

"What? You asked."

Alexa put a hand over her eyes. "What do I have to do to make you shut up?" Instead of replying verbally, Warren grabbed her chin and tilted her head to kiss her.

They both broke apart at the sound of a giggle, flames flickering around Alexa as they did. Her blackened eyes narrowed as she caught sight of her sister. "Carson…"

Carson grinned and held up Alexa's cell phone, screen facing the two. "Nice picture. Now, who can I send this to…?"

"You wouldn't."

She flipped the phone back around and started scrolling through her sister's contact list. "We can start with Ethan…"

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"Alexa… Warren…"

"We didn't do it."

"Mmphff!"

"So Carson tied herself up like this?"

"Yep."

"Pretty much."

"Riiiight…" _Beep. Beep beep._ "Alexa, what are you doing?"

"Checking somethi- oh damn it! She already sent it!"

"Hmhm."

"Silence, midget."

"Warren, help Alexa untie Carson. We're going home."

"Yes ma'am. Not my fault dad's a sore loser…"

"Hey, watch it."

_Snap._

"Blegh! Finally!"

"Told you we should've locked her in the closet."

"Goodbye, Alexa. Elliot, Aria."

"Bye Mr. Peace."

"See you on Monday, Alexa."

"Bye Warren."

"So, Alexa. Why, exactly, did you tie your sister up like this?"

"Uh…"

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SC: And that, as they say, is that. Yes, Catching Fire is officially over. I'm considering doing a sequel, but I'm not sure if I will… I'll put it up to a vote- tell me yes or no in your reviews. And ideas. Oh, ideas would be helpful. I already have some, but I like feedback. Besides, there are plenty of great ideas out there that would probably trump mine. Anyway, R&R, please!

Ja ne

SC

PS: I'll leave it up to you to put in the details of that last bit. Have fun!


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